Mangalore: Would have arrested Prabhakar Bhat had I been CM - Janardhan Poojary

Pics: Brijesh Garodi
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (BG)

Mangalore, Jan 7: "Dr Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat being RSS leader should have strived for peace and unity in society, but he is trying to divide the society by passing defamatory comments against other religions and thus provoking communal tension. Legal action should be taken against anyone who passes provocative comments against any religion, be it Hindu, Muslim or Christian,"  said veteran Congress leader and former union minister Janardhan Poojary.

Addressing a press meet at the district Congress office here on Tuesday January 7, he said, "Had I been the chief minister, I would have arrested Prabhakar Bhat even before he could reach home from the “Hindu Sangama” programme, where he made provocative statements against other religions." The 'Bruhuth Hindu Sangama' programme was organized on Sunday January 5.

"Prabhakar is a doctor by profession and his duty is to cure the illnesses of people and ensure them good health. But he has been passing defamatory and provocative statements against other religions, thus hurting their religious sentiments. This is not the first time he has done this, rather he does it every time before the elections are declared. He is an RSS leader and he shouldn’t have passed such statements. The Hindu society will not accept it by any means," he said.

"He is not even aware of what Hindu religion is. Hinduism is a sacred religion just like the other religions in the world. As Hinduism is sacred, the true fragrance of the religion has spread throughout the world. Swami Vivekananda spread the true essence of the religion, thus he had many followers and disciples from throughout the world," he added.

"But Prabhakar Bhat has been trying to destroy the Hindu religion. Being a leader, his duty was to safeguard the religion, but he has failed to do that. It is not the principle of Hinduism to pass defamatory comments on other religions; rather it is a sin that he has committed. A variety of Hindu organizations rise up at the time of elections and do all such unwanted and anti-social things, thus destroying the peace and harmony of the society," he lashed out.

"Bhat thinks that he is above the law, but no one in this world is above law, not even Janardhan Poojary. Strict legal must be taken against  people who try to provoke communal tension, be Hindu, Christian or Muslim, and Goonda Act should be invoked against them. FIR has already been lodged against Bhat and I would like to congratulate the police department for their prompt action. We have experienced many communal fights here and we all know what we have suffered. It is indeed a loss to all the communities and the people in general. All these things are done just for the sake of vote bank politics," he said.

"Leaders of the Hindu organizations have been trying to push youths into criminal activities by these sorts of provocative acts. They are indeed trying to victimize the youths for their vote bank," he alleged.

'Almost all have chosen me as MP candidate'

Referring to the upcoming MP elections, Poojary said, "The Congress candidate from Mangalore has not yet been declared. Rahul Gandhi has set certain conditions like the candidate must be from the grassroots, he must not have any criminal case, must be a winning candidate and so on. The district Congress office-bearers, MLAs and other leaders, almost 98% of them in all have chosen my name for the next MP candidature," he said.

Leaders Ibrahim Kodijal, Kallige Tharanath Shetty, Harikrishna Bantwal, Vijay Kumar Shetty, T K Sudhir, Nazeer Bajal and others were present.