Bengluru, Feb 15 (IANS): Obliquely referring to the holocaust in Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, Janata Dal-S leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday termed the ongoing Ram Mandir fund raising drive "a huge exercise of identifying and marking those who do not contribute" for its construction.

In a series of tweets, Kumaraswamy alleged that it appears that those collecting donations for the construction of the temple have been marking the houses of those who paid up.

"It appears that those collecting donations for the construction of Ram Mandir have been separately marking the houses of those who paid money and those who did not. This is similar to what Nazis did in Germany during the regime of Hitler when lakhs of people lost their lives.

File Photo

"I don't know where these developments, which are being witnessed in India, take us finally," he said.

Indirectly referring to Bengaluru-based 22-year-old climate change activist, Disha Ravi, who was arrested by the Delhi Police on Saturday night for alleged involvement in formulating the farmers' protest "toolkit", he charged that the fundamental rights of people are being snatched away in the country now.

"The country is witnessing a situation where one cannot freely express his or her views. This is nothing but an undeclared emergency," he said.

He added that a situation has been created where nobody can share their feelings.

"I do not know what will happen to different people if the media upholds the government's views in the coming days. In such a situation it is difficult to guess what would be the fate of the commonman. It is clear from the emerging trends that anything may happen in the country," he said.

Kumaraswamy's statements come at a time when his parties allied with the ruling BJP in the Legislative Council to remove its Chairman, who is of the Congress.