
- BJP Karnataka President BY Vijayendra and Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao spoke to NDTV
- Mr Vijayendra accused the Karnataka government of doing nothing to stop the town from being defamed
- The BJP, Mr Rao said, is playing a "double game" and trying to exploit the issue
Politics over the Dharmasthala "mass burial" case is heating up, with the BJP accusing the Congress of trying to defame the holy temple town and the Congress saying a professional investigation is being carried out without any pressure from anybody.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV on Friday, BJP Karnataka President BY Vijayendra accused the Siddaramaiah government of prolonging the probe and doing nothing to stop the "propaganda" that is being spread on social media. Karnataka Health Minister and Minister in Charge of the Dakshina Kannada region Dinesh Gundu Rao, however, said the BJP never raised an eyebrow when a Special Investigation Team was being set up and is now trying to derive political mileage from the issue.
In July, a former sanitation worker alleged he had been coerced into burying and cremating the bodies of women and minors, many of whom had been assaulted, in the temple town between the 1990s and the mid-2010s. After demands from various quarters, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted to investigate the case on July 19.
Asked whether the BJP, which is also undertaking a 'Dharma Yatra' across Karnataka to protest against those "spreading propaganda" against the temple town and religious beliefs, was jumping the gun by not waiting for the SIT report, Mr Vijayendra said the party is not opposing the investigation but is against it being prolonged.
"We welcomed the state government's decision of constituting the SIT and we still don't oppose the investigation, but it had to be fast-tracked. It can't be prolonged like this... The BJP has hit the streets because crores of devotees of the Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara temple are upset with the false propaganda that has been carried out against it," the Karnataka BJP chief said.
"When a Hindu karyakarta (party worker) posted against the state government, no time was wasted in taking action. An FIR was filed the very next day. But, in this episode, why is the Siddaramaiah government failing to curtail or stop this false propaganda which is going on relentlessly on social media," he added.
Mr Vijayendra claimed Chief Minister Siddaramaih had said he would not set up an SIT but did so the next day. His party, he said, is okay with the SIT but wanted the investigation to be completed quickly.
"Secondly, as per DK Shivakumar's statement, there is a big conspiracy behind this Dharmasthala episode. When the deputy chief minister himself has given such a statement, we want to know who is behind this complainant? Which organisations are working with this complainant? A proper investigation is required to identify those conspirators also," he stressed.
'Trying To Exploit'
Speaking to NDTV, Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said the BJP had welcomed the setting up of the SIT and was now playing a "double game".
"I had said the Dakshina Kannada police can handle this, but it had become national, sensational news and so many people were saying so many things. Even if the Dakshina Kannada police had conducted the investigation, people would have said there is some pressure. So the government formed an SIT and everybody welcomed it," Mr Rao said.
The SIT went about its job very professionally and neither the government nor the Congress party ever issued any kind of statement which was either provocative or misleading. We wanted the truth to come out and it is coming out. The BJP wants to exploit this somehow. There is no public interest in this, it is only their private interest, to exploit it politically for their own benefit... This is the BJP's usual ploy of using religion and playing the communal card," he alleged.
Denying any conspiracy, Mr Rao said the investigation is covering all angles and action will also be taken against anybody who is targeting or defaming anyone.
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