Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, Aug 19: “Protests against Siddaramaiah held in Kodagu were politically motivated and sponsored by the BJP-led government in the State,” said MLA U T Khader said.
Addresing the news persons here on Friday, August 19, Khader said, “Congress has been constantly raising its voice against suppression by BJP and have strongly condemned the intolerance from before. The BJP is trying to silence the voices of such protests. Police are under the clutches of the state government who did not try to clear the crowd just before former chief minister arrived. No one has the right to take out the flex by force which is installed by seeking permission but it has to be installed with good intention. In my constituency, when a flex banner was installed no one had told them to take it out by use of force.”
“What was the reason for omitting freedom fighter Nehru’s picture from the government advertisement? What kind of message does the government want to give? If people need peace then the BJP government should be voted out power. The BJP is aware that they will not win the polls and so out of fear they are staging such protests against Siddaramaiah and the opposition party,” Khader said.
Congress has ideological differences on Savarkar. We have never said that he is not a freedom fighter. However, there was not a single instance where he took part in the Indian independence struggle after he got released from jail in 1924. Whether people who sacrificed their lives for Indian independence are true patriots or those who apologised to the British seeking their release are true patriots, questioned Khader.
Congress leaders Sadashiv Ullal, Santhosh Kumar Shetty, Chandrika Rai, Azeez, Devanand Shetty, Rehman Konaje and others were present.