Siddaramaiah gheraoed, pelted with eggs by BJP youth workers in Kodagu

MYSURU

Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah faced the wrath of BJP Yuva Morcha workers in Kodagu over his recent remarks on Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar during his visit to flood-affected sites in the district on Thursday.

The BJP workers waved black flags at Mr. Siddaramaiah and shouted slogans, displaying the portraits of Savarkar. There were attempts to gherao his vehicle but the police foiled the bid. However, the workers managed to get past the police cordon and one of them threw a poster through the car’s window asking Mr. Siddaramaiah to ‘’go back.’’ Some worker pelted eggs at the vehicle.

The immediate trigger for the protest was Mr. Siddaramaiah’s recent criticism of Savarkar and his politics. Mr. Siddaramaiah had remarked that Savarkar had written mercy petition to the British seeking pardon and release from imprisonment and had made little contribution to the freedom struggle.

Later in the day, Mr. Siddaramaiah lashed out saying it was a cowardly act to divert public attention from absence of governance. Speaking to mediapersons, he said: ‘’The BJP has failed on all fronts and neither is there a government in the State nor is there a semblance of governance.”

‘’The BJP is perturbed that the Congress is set to win both the Assembly segments in the next elections and hence, was desperate to prevent me from touring in Kodagu,” he added.

In a statement released in Bengaluru, Mr. Siddaramaiah slammed the BJP for propping up fake patriots with reference to Savarkar and said that it (BJP) was out to distort history. The BJP ideology clashes with that of true nationalists and patriots such as Bhagat Singh or the values propagated by Swami Vivekananda and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and hence it has stopped appropriating them, said Mr. Siddaramaiah.

The government has issued advertisements in the media using taxpayers money, but it has dropped the name of Jawaharlal Nehru - who not only fought for freedom but laid the foundation stone for a modern India – from the list of freedom fighters name, chided Mr. Siddaramaiah.