Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, May 6: In a sharp rebuttal to the BJP’s outrage over the recent killing of activist Suhas Shetty in Mangaluru, the Congress-led Karnataka government has accused the Opposition party of double standards, questioning how someone once branded a criminal by the BJP is now being hailed as a martyr.

Minister for Health and Dakshina Kannada district in-charge, Dinesh Gundu Rao, speaking on Tuesday, challenged the BJP’s narrative, stating, “If he was a noble soul, why did the previous BJP government open a rowdy sheet against him?”

Rao pointed to official police documents showing that a rowdy sheet was filed against Shetty in 2020 — during the tenure of the BJP government, when Basavaraj Bommai held the post of home minister. “The intoxication of fanaticism has been forcefully imposed on the innocent,” Rao remarked, alleging that the BJP was using Shetty’s death to stoke communal sentiments.

“Shetty was branded a criminal under their own government. Today, the BJP is glorifying him as a martyr and a great soul,” Rao added. “But if he was such a noble person, why did the BJP government at that time classify him as a rowdy?”

Accusing the BJP of hypocrisy, he further stated, “While in power, they open rowdy sheets against criminals and when those very criminals die, they glorify them as martyrs and depict them as saints.”

Rao also made a poignant comment on the communal polarisation in the region. “Can they say whether their own children were ever beaten up for religion? It is always the children of the poor who end up as corpses on the streets. Isn’t this the truth?” he asked.

Appealing for peace, he warned, “The people of Mangaluru are aware and alert. Now, more than ever, the people of the coastal region must recognise the conspiracy. If not, this rotten politics will destroy the peace of the district.”

Suhas Shetty, a rowdy-sheeter, was murdered on May 1. His killing has reignited tensions in the coastal belt, with fresh stabbing incidents reported in both Mangaluru and Udupi.

In response, the BJP and various groups have alleged foul play by the police and demanded that the case be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

So far, police have arrested eight individuals.