The BJP has publicly presented itself as the protector of Dharmasthala and of Hindu sentiment since the beginning of the allegations.
Published Aug 20, 2025 | 7:45 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 20, 2025 | 7:45 PM
BJP Karnataka President BY Vijayendra
Synopsis: The Dharmasthala case has left the BJP confused. Even as the state leadership expressed solidarity with the Dharmadhikari, a section of its cadre toes the RSS line and wants the temple to be under a Hindu mutt. Meanwhile, the Congress’s support for the influential temple has further complicated the BJP’s efforts to project a unified Hindutva narrative.
The ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP in Karnataka are vying to claim the moral high ground in the Dharmasthala case being probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The SIT was formed after a former sanitation worker of the Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple alleged a 20-year cover-up of burials of sexual assault and murder victims.
The party’s state leadership met Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade on Sunday, 17 August, and expressed solidarity with him, a day after the party’s MLA from Yelanhanka, SR Vishwanath, had taken out a ‘Dharmasthala Chalo’ rally against what he called a ‘smear campaign’ and ‘slander’ against the temple and its administration.
However, not all pro-Hindu outfits are supporting the Dharmadhikari. Those spearheading the campaign in Dakshina Kannada, chiefly Mahesh Shetty Thimarodi of the Rashtriya Hindu Jagarana Vedike, accused the Dharmadhikari of several irregularities.
Days after Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar called the case a “conspiracy” to damage the reputation of the temple town, BJP state president BY Vijayendra demanded the filing of FIRs against organisations spreading disinformation.
“It won’t be possible to keep hidden for long who is behind this sustained disinformation and conspiracy. The propaganda against Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala has hurt religious sentiments. If the state government truly has faith in Dharmasthala and Lord Manjunatheshwara, it should investigate the forces behind this campaign,” he told reporters on Tuesday, 19 August.
“Why haven’t FIRs been filed yet against the organisations spreading disinformation? Why hasn’t the government responded immediately when Hindu religious sentiments were hurt?” he asked.
The BJP has publicly presented itself as the protector of Dharmasthala and of Hindu sentiment since the allegations were made. Yet, internally, the party’s stance and support seemed less assured than its public rhetoric would suggest.
While BJP leaders in Bengaluru branded the case an attack on Hinduism, those spearheading the campaign in Dakshina Kannada and other pro-Hindu outfits refused to subscribe to their views. The Rashtriya Hindu Jagarana Vedike is one among them.
“Certain sections of the BJP want control of the temple, so this controversy suits them. But the larger party is unsure of how the public will respond. If they remain silent, they risk being accused of not protecting Hindu interests,” a senior political analyst in Bengaluru told South First.
“This is BJP versus BJP,” said a Congress spokesperson in Dakshina Kannada.
Shivasundar, a senior journalist and activist in Karnataka, told South First that the BJP wanted to portray the case as a Communist and Muslim attack on the Hindu religion.
“The deity is Hindu, the religious organisation belongs to the Jains. Their narrative has a lot of loopholes; they want to make everything anti-Hindu,” he said.
The unease goes back decades. The Dharmasthala temple, though a prominent Hindu shrine, is administered by the Digambara Jain Heggade family.
The RSS in Dakshina Kannada has long argued that the temple should be under a Hindu mutt, specifically the Pejawar Mutt. The Supreme Court, in the 1970s, upheld the Jain family’s control, but the RSS’s grouse persisted.
The current controversy has reopened these faultlines. Analysts said the BJP was feeling compelled by its Hindutva positioning to be seen as defending the temple and the Dharmadhikari, even though the campaign against the powerful Heggade family came from both within the party and those who have ideological leanings towards it.
“The major resistance in and around Dharmasthala is coming from Hindus. Most of the people who came onto the streets during 2023 and 2024 were Hindus. There is a vertical division amongst themselves in the coastal belt,” Shivasundar added.
He added that Mahesh Thimarodi could not carry on with the protest for long without RSS support. “One faction of the RSS wants control of the temple and is infusing power, strength, money, and muscle into Thimarodi, he added.
The Congress’s response has added another layer of complexity. While Shivakumar suggested a controversy aimed at consolidating Hindu votes, Home Minister G Parameshwara struck a more neutral tone.
This “good cop, bad cop” approach, observers said, was meant to blunt the BJP’s attempt to monopolise the Hindu narrative.
Strikingly, senior Congress leader Janardhan Poojary has come out in support of the temple and Heggade, in contrast to RSS strongman Prabhakar Bhat’s silence. These cross-party and intraparty contradictions have been sharpening the fault lines on both sides.
For the BJP, however, the dilemma is sharper. It cannot be seen as abandoning a Hindu place of worship under attack, but defending Dharmasthala meant clashing with its cadres, who have long opposed the Jains controlling the temple.
“The BJP is trapped in its rhetoric. It built the narrative of protecting Hindu temples. Now, when the attack is from within, they don’t know which side to support,” an analyst said.
Meanwhile, Parameshwara told the Legislative Assembly on Monday, 18 August, that the SIT was awaiting the results of chemical analysis of soil and DNA analysis of bones, skulls, and skeletons to proceed further with the probe.
He also said the ongoing investigation would look into conspiracies, if any, and reiterated that action would be taken against the complainant if his allegations were found to be false.
Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy Temple, dismissed the allegations of multiple murders, rapes, and burials across Dharmasthala over two decades as “baseless and false” and called for a speedy probe.
Speaking to PTI, he said, “These issues are baseless and false, and I was hurt by these accusations. The way things are projected on social media is morally wrong.”
On the SIT probe, he said, “We welcomed the SIT the same day. It’s good that the state has formed it and once and for all the truth should come out. It’s not good that allegations are made and they remain that way,” adding, “We want the investigations to conclude at the earliest and the issue be resolved. All our books, and we in particular, are open. The SIT has to thoroughly investigate, and the guilty must be punished.”
He further alleged that an “organised campaign” targeting Dharmasthala and its trust has been carried out for over 14 years. “Irked by the good work being done by us, some elements carry out false campaigns, but we are unperturbed,” he said.
Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Kota Srinivas Poojary, on Tuesday, 19 August, urged the Enforcement Directorate to probe the alleged foreign funding that some individuals were receiving to harm Hindu beliefs.
In his letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Poojary said the probe should look into alleged foreign funding to some individuals, including YouTubers, who have been ‘harming’ Hindu religious beliefs.
“Meanwhile, news has spread that a Muslim YouTuber and his associates, who are attempting to defame the temple, have received foreign funds, and this is how some individuals have declared war on the Manjunatha Swamy temple,” he said.
“The state’s Deputy Chief Minister has publicly stated that a conspiracy is afoot against the Manjunatha Swamy Temple,” he further said.
“Media houses have reported that a politician from Tamil Nadu is pressuring the Congress high command to orchestrate a plan to undermine the faith of Hindus in Karnataka,” the MP added.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
