Bengaluru: His bid to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the inauguration of the new Parliament building and the Ram temple in Ayodhya purportedly on account of her tribal antecedents backfired on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who now finds himself dodging concerted attacks by the Opposition.
In his opening address at the Shoshitara Jagruti Samavesha (exploited classes awareness convention) Sunday, Siddaramaiah criticised the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not inviting “poor” Droupadi Murmu, who “belongs to the exploited class”, to the inauguration of the new Parliament building and the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
“Avalu (Murmu) was not invited despite being the custodian of the Constitution,” he said, using the singular Kannada term for “she” when referring to President Murmu, as opposed to the accepted parlance, ‘avaru’. The difference between ‘avalu’ and ‘avaru’ is the same as that between the Hindi terms ‘tum’ and ‘aap’ or Tamil for ‘nee’ and ‘neenge’.
At the convention organised by Karnataka Exploited Oppressed Caste-Communities Federation and Karnataka State Backward Castes Federation at Chitradurga, the CM added: “They (BJP) say Siddaramaiah is anti-Hindu. I am not anti anything and am pro-humanity.”
However, a 30-second clip of the part of his speech where he is referring to President Murmu as “avalu” is now doing the rounds on social media.
On Monday, Union minister Pralhad Joshi called Siddaramaiah “senile” for his use of the term “avalu” to refer to the President.
“You have time and again proven that ‘you have utmost disregard for the Constitution and those who represent it, holding supreme positions. Addressing the President and that too a woman in singular is extremely disgraceful. This coming from a law student like you is even more shocking and disappointing. Either education has escaped you or you are becoming senile. I wonder which it is,” he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Dear @siddaramaiah,
I seriously don’t understand what’s gotten into you and your party! You have time and again proven that you have utmost disregard for the Constitution and those who represent it, holding supreme positions.
Addressing the President and that too a woman in… pic.twitter.com/js6fEuYw8l
— Pralhad Joshi (@JoshiPralhad) January 29, 2024
Though Siddaramaiah later took to X to apologise by saying that the use of that term was an “inadvertent mistake”, his speech provided much fodder to the BJP which trained its guns at the Congress leader who has modelled his political career as a champion of the rights of oppressed classes. In his post, the chief minister tried to downplay the reference by saying that he uses singular references to refer even to elders in rural areas.
ದಲಿತ ಸಮುದಾಯಕ್ಕೆ ಸೇರಿದವರು ಎಂಬ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಪತಿಗಳಾಗಿರುವ ದ್ರೌಪದಿ ಮುರ್ಮು ಅವರಿಗೆ
ಸಂಸತ್ ಭವನ ಉದ್ಘಾಟನೆಗೆ ಆಹ್ವಾನ ನೀಡದೆ @BJP4India ನಾಯಕರು ಅವಮಾನಿಸಿರುವುದು ನನಗೆ ತೀವ್ರ ನೋವು ಉಂಟುಮಾಡಿದ್ದು ಮಾತ್ರವಲ್ಲ ನನ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಆಕ್ರೋಶ ಹುಟ್ಟಿಸಿತ್ತು.
ಶೋಷಿತರ ಜಾಗೃತಿ ಸಮಾವೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಭಾವುಕನಾಗಿ ಈ ಆಕ್ರೋಶವನ್ನು…
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) January 28, 2024
“He (CM) speaks in singular as it is colloquial and common among rural folk. He keeps saying ‘hogo’ ‘baro’ (go, come in singular reference) to all those around him but means no disrespect; this is only his style and dialect of speaking,” a long-time associate of the chief minister told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
The BJP, however, continued to attack Siddaramaiah by posting another video of him referring to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi as ‘avaru’ to drive its point home.
ದಲಿತರು, ಹಿಂದುಳಿದವರು, ಶೋಷಿತರ ಮೇಲೆ ದಬ್ಬಾಳಿಕೆ ನಡೆಸಿ, ಏಕವಚನದಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂದಿಸುವುದು ಸರ್ವಾಧಿಕಾರಿ ಅಲಿಯಾಸ್ ಮಜವಾದಿ @siddaramaiah ಅವರ ನಿರಂಕುಶ ಪ್ರಭುತ್ವ!
ಅವರು ನಮ್ಮ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಪತಿ ದ್ರೌಪದಿ ಮುರ್ಮು ಅವರನ್ನು ಶೋಷಣೆ ಮಾಡುವುದಕ್ಕೂ ಹೇಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ!
ಆದರೆ, ಇಟಲಿ ಮೇಡಮ್‌ ಸೋನಿಯಾ ಗಾಂಧಿ ಅವರೆಂದರೆ, ಮಜವಾದಿಯವರಿಗೆ ಇನ್ನಿಲ್ಲದ… pic.twitter.com/tF8vx6EZI5
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) January 29, 2024
Further, the BJP is citing Siddaramaiah’s faux pas to intensify its ongoing protest against the state government for ordering the removal of a flag featuring the Hindu deity Hanuman hoisted on a 108-ft flagpole near a temple in Keragodu village in Mandya district, about 100 km from Bengaluru.
Heavy police force has been deployed in Mandya in light of the Karnataka BJP and its ally Janata Dal (Secular) issuing a call for a protest march to express disapproval of the government’s decision.
“Was that flagpole erected with government funds? Lord Hanuman devotees collected donations, gave Rs 100, Rs 50 and erected that pole,” BJP’s C.T. Ravi told TV9 Kannada Monday.
Siddaramaiah, in turn, defended the move by saying: “They (BJP) are unnecessarily creating a controversy…this is their agenda. They (people who erected the pole) took permission to hoist the national or state flag…we are not opposed to any other flag being hoisted there. Tomorrow they might hoist the (Hanuman) flag at the DC office…they cannot do this..so they can hoist only those flags which they have taken permission for.”
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: From atheist to agnostic to ‘believer’ — how Siddaramaiah’s spiritual journey has come full circle