Kateel also claimed that Congress was behind the Godhra train fire of 27 February 2002 in which 59 kar sevaks and Hindu pilgrims died.
Published Jan 05, 2024 | 12:09 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 05, 2024 | 12:09 PM
Nalin Kumar Kateel speaking during an election rally. (Twitter)
Former Karnataka BJP chief and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel on Thursday, 4 January, demanded the arrest of Congress MLC BK Hariprasad for saying he fears that a Godhra-like incident might be orchestrated in Karnataka ahead of the 22 January Ram Temple consecration.
Addressing reporters in Mangaluru, Kateel said if the Congress leader has any information on a planned attack, he should inform the state Home Department. Otherwise, he should be arrested for spreading canards, the MP said.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Thursday said the state government will gather information following senior party leader BK Hariprasad’s claim that a “Godhra-like incident” was likely in the state.
MLC Hariprasad had on Wednesday, 3 January claimed that there is a possibility of a Godhra-like incident in Karnataka in the run-up to the consecration ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya on 22 January.
The Karnataka government should be alert because in Gujarat during the same occasion, the kar sevaks were set on fire at Godhra, he cautioned.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru on Wednesday: “There is a lot of difference between agitation and crime. The Ram Mandir is not an agitation. When the Babri mosque was demolished, criminal cases were registered against the members of the ‘Margadarshak Mandal’ — BJP veterans LK Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, and Uma Bharti.”
He recalled: “This case was dismissed in a lower court. When Advani’s name was proposed for the President of India, that case was brought up again. This criminal case is still pending before the apex court.”
He also said: “We cannot set kar sevaks (a term used here to refer to volunteers who joined the Ram temple movement, but also used to denote volunteers of right-wing Hindu organisations) free if they are accused in other cases.”
Hariprasad also noted that BJP leaders were asking why kar sevaks had been arrested now, it was because “they were hiding”. He added: “They have been arrested now as they were named in 12-13 cases.”
Hariprasad continued: “It is not new what all these people have done in the name of religion. Hence, there is nothing wrong in taking police action until the matter is settled in the apex court.”
Invoking Godhra, he said: “They are attempting to replicate a similar incident in Karnataka. We must not allow such untoward incidents to happen here. We need to provide ample security to all those who visit Ayodhya; we cannot afford another Godhra in Karnataka.”
He also said: “There is an absolute possibility for such an incident. I can even give information (related to it), can tell you that the heads of some organisations went to some states and instigated some BJP leaders. I cannot say that openly. They are doing it. They are instigating such acts.”
The 2002 Godhra train burning case had plunged Gujarat into one of the worst communal riots.
Kateel also claimed that Congress was behind the Godhra train fire of 27 February 2002 in which 59 kar sevaks and Hindu pilgrims died.
He went on to claim that the gruesome attack, which resulted in the deadly Gujarat riots that left about 2,000 people dead, and for which his party members had been under investigation, was part of a plot hatched by Congress to bring down the then Gujarat government led by Narendra Modi.
He alleged that Hariprasad’s statement indicates that Congress would repeat such a purported act again.
Reacting to Hariprasad’s statement, Parameshwara said, “We don’t have any information. If a situation like that arises then our department (police) is capable of handling it. We will not let such things happen.”
Responding to a reporter’s query on summoning the MLC to get details, he said it can be considered because he is a senior leader and he must have the information.
The minister, however, said there was no need to issue notice to Hariprasad as of now.
“When there is a sensitive matter we will first gather information. We will handle the case the way it should be,” Parameshwara explained.
Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai charged the Congress MLC with “instigating” people to commit such incidents.
“The Home Minister says he has no information while the MLC says he has input. This means there is an intelligence failure. The police would have registered an FIR if an ordinary person would have given a similar statement,” Bommai told media persons.
Accusing the government of using a different yardstick, he demanded that Hariprasad be summoned to the police station for inquiry.
Former minister KS Eshwarappa said the statement gives the impression that Hariprasad has information.
On former MLA Yatindra Siddaramaiah’s controversial statement that if India becomes a “Hindu Rashtra”, it will become like Pakistan and Afghanistan under a dictatorship, Kateel insisted that India has always been a Hindu country.
“Mahatma Gandhi wanted the country to have Ram rajya, and not be a secular country,” he claimed. “The idea of Ram rajya is itself the idea of Hindu rashtra,” he added.
“There is Ram in Siddaramaiah’s name too though his character is that of Ravan,” the former state BJP chief mocked.
Endorsing the “I am a kar sevak, arrest me” campaign launched by BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar, Kateel said he was also a kar sevak and dared the government to arrest him as well.
(With PTI inputs)
