From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Aug 14: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D K Shivakumar and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Siddaramaiah and other senior State Congress leaders unveiled a 3.5 km long national tri-colour from Bengaluru’s prominent Mahatma Gandhi Road to Trinity Circle and later garlanded the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Sunday.
National Youth Congress President B V Srinivas, KPCC Working President Saleem Ahmed, State Youth Congress President Mohammed Nalapad, MLA N A Harris and other leaders were present.
Omission of Nehru’s picture condemned
Speaking to media persons later, the KPCC Chief and the former chief minister strongly condemned Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for releasing full page advertisement in newspapers on the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, which has pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bommai as well as 12 national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Vallabhbhai Patel, Bagat Singh and Vinayak Damodar Sawarkar but has ‘’deliberately’’ omitted India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who also had fought during the freedom struggle and was imprisoned.
“Omitting the picture of a stalwart like Nehru and failing to mention even his name depicts the petty mindedness and narrow mindset of the ruling BJP, which has been consistently denigrating Nehru’s service and contributions for the nation. BJP governments at the Centre and in the States are showing their petty mindedness and partisan mentality,’’ said Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah.
"Bommai is toeing the Modi line and is obviously showing subservience to RSS,’’ they said and pointed out that the Sangh Parivar elements have been constantly glorifying the killer of the father of the nation Nathuram Godse.
The Congress leaders said the Bommai government’s full page advertisement has individual pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Vallabhbhai Patel, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekar Azad, Revolutionary Sawarkar, Lala Lajapathrai, Bala Gangadhar Tilak, Dr B R Ambedkar, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad while Nehru features only in the line caricature of the freedom fighters.
The BJP government headed by Bommai should have inserted single photo of Nehru too along with the other prominent leaders and omitting it is an insult to Nehru’s legacy, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar said.
Incidentally, the State Government’s advertisement also carries photos of Jhansi Rani Lakshmibai, Kittur Rani Chennamma, Sangolli Rayanna, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, Karnad Sadashiva Rao (both from Mangaluru), Nittur Srinivasa Rao (Tumakuru), Subedar Guddemane Appaiah Gowda (Kodagu), Mailara Mahadevappa (Motebennur), Umabhai Kundapura (Hubballi), K G Gokhale, Gangadhar Rao Deshpande (both Belagavi), N S Hardikar, R S Hukkerikar (both Dharwad), Banavasi’s Hardekar Manjappa, Chandrashekaraiah Harihara and H S Doreswamy and Yashodhara Dasappa besides mention of the names of Poojya Doddappa (7th Pontiff of Kalaburgi
Sharanabasaveshwara Samsthana) and Khadi Shankarappa (Shivamogga) for their invaluable contribution.