The Congress strongly objected Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bangalore South MP and controversial Hindutva face Tejasvi Surya falsely accusing Muslims for corruption in the Bengaluru Municipal Coroporation South Zone’s COVID-19 war room and spreading venom against Muslims.
On Tuesday, a video clip of Surya reading out the 17 Muslim names and BJP MLAs Satish Reddy and Ravi Subramanya making anti-Muslim comments have gone viral. The young saffron party leader Surya had read out the names of 17 Muslims officials from among more than 200 employees who are working for COVID-19 relief, offering no evidence or explanation for why only these individuals were highlighted. In the viral video, Tejasvi Surya rattled off names of 17 Muslims to a BBMP South Zone official and asked on what basis the Muslims were hired. Another BJP lawmaker Ravi Subramanya MLA also thundered, “Is this a madrassa?”, as the official explained that people who applied were recruited.
The WhatsApp messages also went viral naming the 16 names Tejasvi Surya mentioned, calling it a “List of terrorists working in BBMP WAR ROOM killing thousands of Bengalurians.”
Reports also say the 17 Muslims have been fired, picked up by the police where they sat in at COVID-19 war room, and were released hours after.
The Congress released the full list of employees working in the Bengaluru Municipal Coroporation South Zone’s war room handling distress calls for COVID-19.
“There are 205 employees working in the BBMP south zone war room. But Tejasvi Surya chose to name 17 names of Muslims. This is a third-class, third-rated, gutter-class mentality,” Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain told reporters on Wednesday.
Congress leader added: “These 205 people were outsourced by Crystal Infosystems & Services, which was recommended by a BJP minister. Is Tejasvi Surya blind? Of all the 205 people, he specifically 17 Muslims. Does he have any shame? Earlier, too, Tejasvi has shown this mindset with his ‘puncture-wallah’ comment, targeting ladies of a particular country saying they can’t get an orgasm and during the Tableeghi Jamaat issue he made several communal tweets.”
“Who is Tejasvi Surya? Is he an investigating officer? Who gave a clean chit to the other 188 people working in the war room? We need a vaccine not only for COVID-19, but also for the communalism in Tejasvi Surya,” Congress MP said.
The BJP is the biggest member of the Bengaluru Municipal Coroporation, and Bengaluru Mayor Gowtham Kumar is a corporator of the saffron party.
