Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers D.V. Sadananda Gowda drew flak for his statement blaming the Congress for the death of senior Left leader Maruti Manpade, who passed away of COVID-19 recently.
Mr. Gowda had said at a bypoll-related event in the city on Monday: “When the entire country was indoors taking precautions to stem the spread of COVID-19, D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah forcibly brought farmers and others to Bengaluru in the name of protests against farm Bills. Senior leader Maruti Manpade had also participated in this protest, contracted COVID-19, and unfortunately, died.”
Aikya Horata, a coalition of farmers, Dalits and labourers, that led the agitation against the farm Bills, on Tuesday came down heavily on Mr. Gowda. “It is the BJP governments at the Centre and the State that are responsible for the death of Maruti Manpade. It is they who misused a public health crisis and brought in sweeping changes through ordinances undemocratically, forcing people to take to the streets,” the samiti said in a release.
‘Shameless accusation’
Karnataka Pranta Raita Sangha (KPRS), of which Manpade was a senior leader, also criticised the Minister for what they called “shameless accusation”. In a release, KPRS said: “The Minister also said the protesting farmers were ‘purchased’, which only shows the fear within the BJP at the popular protests against their Bills both in State and Centre,” the statement said.