SHIVAMOGA: Former CM and senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa has condemned the act of some youths who forced a shopping mall staff to remove the portrait of V D Savarkar from the gallery of freedom fighters. However, he refused to comment on the tearing up of a poster of Tipu Sultan by some Hindutva activists in Bengaluru.
Yediyurappa told reporters at his residence here on Sunday that the youths committed an unforgivable offence by forcing the removal of Savarkar’s portrait. “The police have already arrested the accused. When such people are punished, such incidents do not recur. The world celebrates Savarkar but this incident has pained everyone. I request the people to maintain peace and not take the law into their hands,” he said.
Yediyurappa said that Savarkar is being targeted and some people cannot digest the respect towards patriots. “Hence such incidents are taking place. This should end. If the arrested accused is punished such incidents of disrespecting patriots do not repeat. I urge the government to take action in this regard,” he said.
When asked about the tearing up of Tipu’s poster in Bengaluru, the former CM refused to comment but said, “I don’t want to discuss the incident. I would like to comment only on the Savarkar incident in Shivamogga. I would comment on the matter after knowing about the facts.
It may be recalled here that on Saturday, some youths objected to the keeping of Savarkar’s portrait among freedom fighters at an exhibition organised by the BJP-ruled Shivamogga City Corporation. They alleged that the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi was of small size while the portrait of Savarkar, who begged the pardon of the British, was kept in the gallery. They also objected to not keeping the portrait of Muslim freedom fighters like Abul Kalam Azad.
After the incident, the BJP workers staged a protest and lodged a police complaint against the youths. Later in the same evening, some youths from a Hindutva organisation tore up the poster of Tipu Sultan put up by the Karnataka Congress ahead of Independence Day at Hudson Circle in Bengaluru.