Bengaluru: A Karnataka BJP lawmaker has said Rahul Gandhi should be “slapped in Parliament” for insinuating in the House that his party spread violence and hatred.
Two-time MLA from Mangalore North, Bharat Shetty, said in public on Monday that Hindus knew both “shaastra” (scriptures) and “shastra” (weapons) and could use weaponry to retaliate to Gandhi’s unfounded “courage”.
Shetty also said the Hindu community also had the tendency to be in slumber and that Gandhi was probably trying to “awaken us all”.
“Sometimes, I feel it would be good if someone slaps him a couple of times in Parliament. A few FIRs should be filed, not assault cases… otherwise, I don’t know where he is getting this courage from,” Shetty said during his speech.
While caste is the most important factor in Karnataka, the coastal belt like in Mangalore is often where the BJP falls back on its core ideology.
The three districts of coastal Karnataka — Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada — are often referred to as the “communal laboratory of the state’.
Even though the BJP changed all three firebrand MPs from these three districts in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, leaders from the party often resort to communal speeches to rouse the crowds.
The BJP has upped its attacks on the Congress in Karnataka that stormed to power in last year by dislodging the Basavaraj Bommai government. Gandhi’s inaugural speech as the Leader of the Opposition in the new Parliament has attracted sharp criticism from BJP supporters and other pro-Hindu groups.
Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address, Gandhi had said, “This is a country of non-violence, not that of fear. Our saints spoke of non-violence. Shivji ne kaha daro mat, darao mat… ahimsa ki baat karte hain… apne trishul ko zameen mai gaadh dete hai, aur jo log apne aap ko Hindu kehte hai, woh 24 ghante hinsa, hinsa, hinsa… nafrat, nafrat, nafrat… asatya, asayta, asatya. Aap Hindu ho hi nahi (Lord Shiva said one should not be scared, or scare others. He spoke of non-violence. And these people who call themselves Hindus spread violence, hatred and lies round-the-clock. You are not Hindus).”
‘Be ready to face the music’
Meanwhile, Congress leaders have dared Shetty to follow up on his words and face the consequences.
“If Bharat Shetty has the courage and strength, let him lay his hand on our common worker,” former minister and senior Congress leader Ramanath Rai told reporters at a press conference in Mangalore on Tuesday.
The party’s Udupi district president Ramesh Kanchan said that party workers would not sit idle and were not wearing bangles. He added that Shetty had taken oath on the Constitution, but was behaving like a rowdy.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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