Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah faced the ire of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing activists in Madikeri on Thursday, 18 August, for his statement questioning the need for the Hindutva activists to put up Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar's photograph in a "Muslim area" in Shivamogga, which led to clashes a few days ago.
The BJP workers showed black flags to him and raised slogans ‘Go back Siddaramaiah.' It is learnt that some protesters threw eggs at the former chief minister's car. The protest led to the clashes between the Congress and the BJP workers.
Siddaramaiah was visiting Madikeri, the district headquarter town of Kodagu, to inspect the losses occurred due to the recent spell of rain, which had resulted in deaths, damage to houses, crops, infrastructure and landslide.
As soon as the vehicle of the former chief minister passed through General KS Thimmayya Road, the BJP workers tried to interrupt the convoy of the Congress leader.
They showed him Savarkar's photos. One of the BJP activists threw Savarkar's photo on Siddaramaiah's lap when his convoy was moving slowly. The police had a difficult time controlling the BJP protesters, including women, who had stood in the middle of the road, blocking Siddaramaiah's convoy.
The Kodagu unit of the BJP youth wing shared posts on social media, which read, “Siddu Khan enters Kodagu," “Kodagu defiled,” “Go back Siddu Khan, the disciple of Tipu Sultan who carried out genocide in Kodagu.”
The Savarkar Poster Row
On 15 August, a few people had put up Savarkar's photo in a circle close to a mosque in Shivamogga, which led to tensions in the town. A person named Prem Singh, who hails from Rajasthan and worked in a shop in Shivamogga, was stabbed.
Following the clash, the district administration swung into action and imposed prohibitory orders for the next three days and announced closure of school for a day on 16 August.
The police arrested four Muslims on charges of stabbing Singh. Police took one of the accused into custody after shooting in his leg as he had allegedly tried to attack policemen who went to arrest him.
The next day, another Bajrang Dal activist was stabbed in Bhadravathi town, and a Muslim youth was arrested in connection with the incident.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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