Sri Ram not BJP’s property, says DKS

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday hit back against BJP’s criticism that he and CM Siddaramaiah raising ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogans, adding that Ram was not the saffron party’s property.

“Is Sri Ram their (BJP’s) personal property? Ram belongs to everyone. They are spreading lies to project the Congress party as anti-Hindu. The Muzrai department under the leadership of Ramalinga Reddy has taken up special poojas in all the temples and the BJP can’t digest this,” Shivakumar said.

He reiterated that the BJP was “politicising religion”.

“BJP is doing politics in religion. There should be dharma in politics but not the other way round. There is Rama in Siddaramaiah, Shiva in Shivakumar, Hari in Hariprasad and Krishna in Krishna Byregowa’s names. Hindu religion is not BJP’s private property,” Shivakumar said.

“Our government has been giving equal importance to the Muzrai department, Haj Committee and Minority Welfare department. When the BJP was in power, why did it not take up people centric programmes? The five guarantee schemes are benefitting people from all castes and creeds. We had a government with JD(S). Now, they have joined hands with the same people who brought down that government,” he noted, alluding to Operation Kamala of July 2019 when 17 MLAs from the Congress and JD(S) had quit their parties and joined the BJP.

As many as 14 of them got r-elected on saffron party tickets and brought the BJP to power.