BENGALURU: With just a few hours left for public campaigning, former PM and JDS patriarch H D Deve Gowda went all out to woo the Muslim community in Sira town, which is going to the polls on November 3. He touched upon several issues including the demolition of Babri Masjid.
Campaigning at a Muslim-dominated area on Saturday, he criticized the verdict of the Allahabad HC as all the accused in the Babri case including L K Advani, Uma Bharati and Murli Manohar Joshi were acquitted.
“When the mosque was brought down by over 1 lakh people under their leadership, with videos as evidence, all were acquitted. This is the situation of our country,” he said. He blamed it on late PM Rajiv Gandhi as he had opened the door of the mosque when Buta Singh was his home minister.
“The demolition happened on Dec. 6, 1992 when Congress was in power at the Centre,” he pointed out.
He also criticized Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi as they did not visit the Gujarat Godhra massacre victims at the camps. “I had visited them but no Congress leader did. I even visited Kashmir and boosted the morale of Farooq Abdullah,” he claimed.
He came down heavily on Chamarajpet MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan for allegedly distributing money to voters.“ Our rival party may be spending Rs 20 crore. But we can’t. When none of the big leaders are with me now, you all showering your love on me is significant. The youths should know how much I have contributed to their community,” he said.
He claimed the Sira poll will be his last fight as he is 88 years old and may soon retire from politics. “The knee pain I got during Tumkur LS polls still persists. I will adapt Sira and develop it from my RS member funds,” he promised.