"Will ask Centre to bring an ordinance to shoot at sight people who shout anti-India slogans": BC Patil
Karnataka minister BC Patil today repeated his formula to stop anti-national slogans -- one that flies close to his party's prescription for "traitors": Bullets. It was the "goli maaro" slogan with a slight tweak.
"I will ask the Central government to bring an ordinance to shoot at sight people who shout slogans against India," BC Patil told NDTV today. "Nowadays, it has become a fashion for some youths to get popularity this way which spoils the country and patriotism," he added.
The minister first mentioned the topic last week, at the peak of the four-day violence in Delhi, that was seen as fallout of hate speech by a section of BJP leaders ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi.
The BJP's union minister Anurag Thakur and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Both had endorsed the use of guns on people considered traitors and terrorists.
Anurag Thakur was caught on camera egging on his followers to chant the "goli maaron" slogan ahead of the assembly elections. Yogi Adityanath advised the use of bullets, not biryani, on terrorists – a dig at Arvind Kejriwal, whom he accused of supporting the protesters at Shaheen Bagh.
The BJP -- which started focus on anti-India slogans after an event in Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University – has repeatedly accused the Arvind Kejriwal government of shielding the perpetrators by withholding assent to their trial.
Last week, the Delhi government gave clearance for the trial of Kanhaiya Kumar and others, who as student leaders of the JNU, had allegedly organised the event where the slogans were raised. Mr Kejriwal's detractors had described it as caving in to BJP pressure.
From Delhi, the "goli maaro" slogan has been catching on in other parts of the country, especially where protests against the contentious citizenship law has been strong. Yesterday it was heard in Kolkata, ahead of a rally addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah.
Mr Shah, however, said earlier that the hate speeches could have been a contributory factor in the party's dismal performance in the Delhi elections. The BJP could only win eight of Delhi's 70 assembly seats. The rest were scooped up by Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party.
BC Patil was a Congressman, part of the state's coalition government that collapsed in July after legislators, including him, withdrew their support.
He later joined the BJP and was given a ticket to contest the bypolls that followed. After winning his seat he was among the MLAs from the former coalition to be made a minister.