After Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha MP Anantkumar Hegde declared that a mosque in Bhatkal would be razed similarly to the Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradesh in 1992, police in Karnataka have opened a suo motu case against him.
The FIR includes charges under IPC Section 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505 (statements conducting public mischief).
He said that the Chinnada Palli mosque in Bhatkal would be demolished, just as the Babri Masjid was.
“In Bhatkal, the Chinnada Palli mosque will be demolished, much like the Babri Masjid was. We don’t give a damn whether the media portrays it as a danger. Still, we’ll carry it out. The Hindu community has made this decision, not Anantkumar Hegde,” the MP stated.
“Revenge, revenge, revenge… if we do not take revenge for the 1,000 years, then the Hindu community can clearly say that ours is not Hindu blood,” the BJP MP added.
Apart from the Chinnada Palli mosque, he named several other mosques across Uttar Kannada and Mandya.
“In every village of the state, there are small religious places which were violated. Until they are demolished, the Hindu community will not sit idly,” Hegde remarked as reported by The Indian Express.
Though Hegde hasn’t been seen active in public for the last two years, this is not the first time his remarks are creating controversy.
In 2019, while being the Union minister of state for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Hegde asked how Congress leader Rahul Gandhi could be a Hindu as he was “born to a Muslim father and Christian mother”.
In the same year, he said that “a hand that touches a Hindu girl should not exist”.
In 2020, he labelled the acts of Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for independence a “drama”.
Hegde’s speech has drawn criticism from senior Congressmen such as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Culture Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi.
At the same time, the BJP state leaders have distanced themselves from Hegde’s comments.
