Kateel view on Love Jihad: Not many takers even in BJP

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: State BJP President and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel’s statement asking party workers to ‘stop focusing on roads and sewage issues and instead fight against ‘Love Jihad’ has come under severe criticism not only from Opposition leaders but also from his own party leaders.

“There is no proposal before the state government to come out with any legislation to check love jihad. It is Kateel’s personal opinion. It will be discussed in the party forum”, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said categorically when his reaction was sought on the remark.

Recently, Kateel, while addressing a Booth Vijay Sankalp meeting in Dakshina Kannada, had made the remark in what is considered an attempt to polarise Hindu votes. The reason was obvious; after the brutal murder of Praveen Nettaru, a youth wing leader of the BJP, party workers had openly slammed the state government for its failure to protect the lives of Hindus.

Workers in coastal Karnataka are pretty upset with the party with BJP leaders who had been to attend the last rites of Nettaru, forced to hide behind a group of workers to secure their lives from the angry mob. Many of these workers had threatened to join other parties since the number of killings of Hindu activists had increased after the BJP came to power.

This anger among BJP workers had forced the state government to recommend to the Centre a ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) holding it responsible for the series of attacks on Hindu activists. Kateel’s statement is seen as an attempt to remain in the good books of Hindu supporters without which the party may not be able to win a single seat in coastal Karnataka.

With acts of moral policing, right-wing organizations are trying to proclaim themselves as the protectors of Hindus but the brutal murders of Sharath in Shivamogga and Praveen Nettaru in Udupi have eroded the BJP’s base With Assembly elections scheduled to be held in the next three to four months, such provocative speeches are likely to be heard more in the Hindu-dominated constituencies to whip up their sentiments.

This is not the first Kateel has courted controversy. A few years ago, he went to the police station and lambasted police personnel for arresting a few BJP workers in connection with an incident.

A case is still pending against him. With reports doing the rounds that Kateel may be replaced with Chikmagalur MLA and BJ P National General Secretary C.T.Ravi, the former had to prove that he is still a force to reckon with in Karnataka which explains his’Love Jihad’ remark, added sources.