Anant Kumar Hegde, Union minister for skill development and entrepreneurship, led the BJP’s rally ‘Karnataka Suraksha Yatre’ on Saturday. Photo: PTI
Ankola/Kumta: Three men trying to hack a man to death, while one on the side had his sword out to chop the head off a cow. All this while a man, wearing a Siddaramaiah face mask, is seen laughing.
The menacing looking mannequins was how the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to present its tableau that lead the “Karnataka Suraksha Yatre” on Saturday in Ankola—about 500km from Bengaluru. The message was clear and graphic for the communally sensitive regions of coastal Karnataka.
The BJP is taking out a three-day march in the state’s communally sensitive coastal region starting 3 March.
The march—dubbed as Hindutva Padayatre—is part of the BJP’s 2018 election campaign to target the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government over failing law and order in the state including the rise of communally motivated murders.
The BJP allege that minority groups like Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) are behind the murders and attacks on right wing workers. And also that these groups are emboldened under the Congress government.
To drive home it’s point, the BJP got Kamalakar Mesta, the father of 21-year-old Paresh Mesta who was found dead under mysterious circumstances last year, to flag off the rally.
Alternatively, the same campaign began from Kodagu district on Saturday. Both rallies will make their way through other districts and finally converge in Mangaluru. The BJP is also carrying out a “Bengaluru Rakshisi” yatra across the city to highlight the breakdown of governance, law and order, crumbling infrastructure, and alleged mass corruption by Siddaramaiah.
Anant Kumar Hegde, Union minister for skill development and entrepreneurship, led the rally from Ankola while Pratap Simha and Naveen Kumar Kateel—both members of Parliament—led the rally from Kodagu.
Heading into elections, the BJP has tried to use the recent killings of right wing workers in coastal Karnataka to consolidate the fragmented Hindu vote in the region—one of the most communally sensitive parts of the state.
“Siddaramaiah should graciously step down as chief minister,” Hegde, one of the most firebrand Hindutva leaders from Karnataka said at the flag off in Ankola on Saturday. “This Yatra (against the Congress) has only begun and will end only after Siddaramaiah has stepped down from his chair,” Hegde added.
Hegde, who addressed rally in Kumta, said that “even a police constable would do a better job than Siddaramaiah”. Hegde added that BJP’s motto was “sabka saath, sabka vikas” while the Congress motto was “apna swarth, sabka vinaash”.
The Congress and BJP have sharpened their attacks on each other in the run up to the assembly election, scheduled to be held later this year. Both accusing each other of corruption, raking communal passion and dividing the society, among other serious charges.
Hegde said that if Congress continued in Karnataka for another five years, then the state would become like Kashmir.
The rally from Ankola will move to Honnavar and Bhatkal on Sunday before it eventually makes its way to Mangaluru on 6 March. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to participate in Tuesday’s rally.
