Bengaluru, Oct 23 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol on Friday alleged that untouchability continued to exist under the Congress government in the state, citing the alleged humiliation of Ministers Shivaraj Tangadagi, P.M. Narendra Swamy and K.S. Basavanthappa during the recent Mysuru Dasara celebrations.
Speaking to the media at the state BJP office Jagannath Bhavan in Bengaluru, Karjol said the Ministers were allegedly denied entry to a place of worship on the grounds that their presence would pollute the premises.
He added that the incident was not merely a breach of protocol but an instance of the practice of untouchability.
“Despite such incidents within the Congress, its leaders, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, continued to accuse the BJP of following Manusmriti-inspired ideology,” he said.
Karjol challenged Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Mallikarjun Kharge to clarify whether the Congress was a secular or communal party.
The BJP MP alleged that the Congress had repeatedly made false claims that the BJP intended to change the Constitution, while it was the Congress that had brought several constitutional amendments for its own selfish interests.
He claimed that these amendments were not intended for the welfare of the people or Dalits.
He also asserted that former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the only leader who changed the Constitution for the benefit of Dalits and credited him with providing reservation to the community.
Targeting Karnataka Congress President B.K. Hariprasad, Karjol said he frequently accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of following Manusmriti-inspired ideology and the BJP of being “anti-Dalit”.
However, Hariprasad had remained silent despite the alleged humiliation of Dalit Ministers, he added, challenging him to clarify whether the Congress was secular or communal.
Karjol said that Shivakumar and Hariprasad had earlier taken credit for making Basavanthappa, the son of a pourakarmika (civic sanitation worker), a Minister.
“However, the same person (Basavanthappa) was now allegedly being treated like a sanitation worker,” he charged.
He said that Shivaraj Tangadagi, who holds the Kannada and Culture portfolio, should have been accorded due respect during the Dasara celebrations.
Karjol added that he had also served as the Minister in-charge of the department and had overseen Dasara celebrations during his tenure.
Calling the Congress a party with a “dirty mindset”, the BJP MP alleged that it had repeatedly humiliated Dalit leaders, including the architect of the Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar, and Babu Jagjivan Ram.
He accused the Congress of never treating Dalits with dignity and said the alleged incident during Dasara would be condemned.
Responding to a query, Karjol said the denial of entry to the Minister-in charge of the Kannada and Culture Department could not have been the decision of a police officer alone.
He termed the incident a failure of the state government and alleged that the government itself was practising untouchability.
On the ongoing sting operation controversy, Karjol said that releasing sting-operation videos was an unhealthy practice and that the conduct of Ministers, legislators and MPs should serve as an example to society.
He alleged that blackmail politics had increased significantly in Karnataka and said the sting operation had damaged the reputation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who had served in politics with dignity for 50 years.
Karjol demanded that the state government hand over the investigation into the sting operation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or order a probe by a sitting or retired judge.
–IANS
mka/khz