Mangaluru: Mangaluru Congress MLA U T Khader, on Monday, January 13, hit back at senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat for his statements during the massive rally held by pro-Hindu groups on Kanakapura of the Ramanagara district.
On Monday, Bhat led a rally against Congress leader and Kanakapura MLA D K Shivakumar’s decision to build a Statue of Jesus Christ at the Kapala Betta.
It can be recalled that DKShi had laid the foundation stone for the proposed 114-foot Yesu Krista statue on December 25, 2019.
Mocking Bhat for opposing the statue, Khader said, “Holding a rally against a Jesus statue in Kanakapura shows Bhat’s narrow-mindedness. Educational institutions and hospitals run by the Christian community have contributed immensely to society.”
“The so-called ‘nationalists’ have never cared about the destitute,” the MLA added.
Earlier, members of the BJP ridiculed DKShi for his move, saying that the Yesu Krista statue is only being constructed to appease AICC interim-president Sonia Gandhi, as the Kanakapura MLA is currently lobbying for the post of KPCC president.
Apart from his colleagues in the Congress party, members of the JD(S) have also come out in support of DKShi.
JD(S) MLA Sa Ra Mahesh, responding to the RSS and BJP’s comments, said, “People have given the BJP an opportunity in the Centre and the state. There are many development works. Focus on it.”
Even JD(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda spoke in Shivakumar’s favour. “I will not try to find a mistake in Shivakumar’s attempt to install the statue of Jesus Christ atop the hill. We don’t have any objection to it,” he said to the media today.
