Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Dec 20: Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has come down heavily on the ruling BJP in the state and the centre for curbing the right of citizens to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in a peaceful manner. In a 15-part tweet series, he condemned the ruling government for failing to maintain law and order in the state and across nation and asked BJP to not blame Congress for its failures. He specially commented on the protest in Mangaluru that turned violent and claimed two lives due to police firing.
"Even if the government enjoys a majority, in a democratic setup, it does not have the right to curb people’s freedom. In case if the laws passed by the government are anti-people, then people have the right to question the same and protest against it. Government does not have any right to curb this freedom," Siddaramiah tweeted.
He then posed a series of questions to the rulings state government. "Was it necessary to implement Section 144 across the state? When people were protesting peacefully, how could you allow police to open fire?”
Highlighting that the people who were protesting in Mangaluru did not carry lethal weapons, Siddaramaiah said that the protestors could have been dispersed with lathi-charge, water cannons or rubber bullets, which would not have claimed lives. Why was it necessary to open fire on people and kill them?" he asked.
"A video that is currently going viral on social media shows a police officer in Mangaluru asking another cop, 'why did no one die in spite of shooting at them many times?' What does this mean? Does it not indicate that the government intended that people die in open fire?" he lashed out.
"During my tenure as CM, people had forgotten about guns. Poor got rice, children got milk, homeless got shelters and farmers got their loans waived off. Congress only intended progress," Siddaramaiah said.
The former CM stressed that Congress did not give a call for the protest. There were no Congress or JD(S) leaders that were leading the protest. It was the citizens who gathered, venting their ire against the law passed by the ruling government. "There is no need to pass on your irresponsibility on Congress. Don’t you feel ashamed to play crooked politics?" Siddaramaiah questioned BJP.
Siddaramaiah blamed PM Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah and called them the main perpetrators for the protests and violence taking place across the country.
"When a CM orders lathi-charge in a press meet, how can open firing happen? Does this mean the CM has no control over the police?" he questioned.
Calling B S Yediyurappa a 'weak' chief minister, he said that the CM only sits on his chair while it is the high command from Delhi and Sangh Parivar elements that are ruling the state.
Siddaramiah also blamed RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat for instigating violence. “It needs to be noted that a few days back, the RSS leader made students symbolically demolish Babri Masjid in a play performed in a school he runs. It is acts such as these that incite communal hatred and violence," he pointed out.
Finally, he said that whenever BJP assumes power, the minorities have to face the brunt. "Church attacks have happened and the minorities have been assaulted during the BJP rule. When Yediyurappa was the chief minister earlier, he had killed farmers. This time he is set out to kill the youth."