The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pasted posters of Veer Savarkar at the Congress’ party office in Vijayapura, Karnataka. The posters were placed on the walls of the Congress regional head office in the district of Vijaypura overnight. Following a protest from local Congress leaders, the police ultimately took down the posters.
Basavaraj Hoogara, BJP district youth president, admitted pasting posters of Veer Savarkar at the Congress office. Hoogara said, “Our workers and I did it. There is no doubt about that. In Hubli, Congress workers burnt the photos of Savarkar. We should talk about that. Congress is stirring up issues again and again.”
“Putting up posters is not worse than burning them as they did. Congress is trying to use Savarkar for their publicity. Respect him, read about his history,” he further added.
The issue over the posters erupted after a group of Muslim youth pulled a flex banner featuring Veer Savarkar on Independence Day in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka. As part of the Independence Day festivities, Savarkar’s poster was displayed, and Muslim youths attempted to replace it with one of the Islamic tyrant Tipu Sultan. The incident occurred at the Ameer Ahmed circle in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district.
Following the event, there was communal tension in the region, and police enforced Section 144. Unidentified miscreants also stabbed two men, Praveen Singh and Prem Singh, in two different locations across the city. On his way home from Gandhi Bazar after closing his business, the former was stabbed in Ashok Nagar by bike-borne men, while another youth was stabbed in Upparakeri. The Karnataka Home Minister suspected a link between the stabbings and the poster row.
On August 16, former Karnataka chief minister and Opposition Leader Siddaramaiah offered an unusual explanation for the communal unrest that erupted in the Shivamogga district last Monday. The Congress leader stated that displaying Savarkar’s photograph in a “Muslim area” was to blame for the communal uproar. “Why did they put Savarakar’s photo in a Muslim area and removed Tipu Sultan’s portrait?” Siddaramaiah said.
Karnataka Congress puts up posters of Islamic tyrant Tipu Sultan in Bengaluru to celebrate 75 years of Indian Independence
On August 14, the Karnataka Congress placed posters of the Islamic tyrant Tipu Sultan around Bengaluru’s Hudson Circle and other locations to commemorate 75 years of Indian independence.
According to various reports, the posters were later reportedly defaced by some people. The Karnataka Congress had put up posters of Tipu along with several freedom fighters across Bengaluru.
The Congress party condemned the damage done to the posters by unknown individuals. State President DK Shivkumar linked Tipu SUltan to the party’s freedom march and said that some people are having difficulty digesting the Congress party’s “Freedom March.” “Someone is trying to create disturbance in the state. They are not able to digest Congress’ Freedom March,” Shivakumar said.