Karnataka, Dec 19, 2022: The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka has put up a portrait of Vinayak Savarkar in the state assembly which further led to protests from opposition parties on the steps outside the building.
The protest was spearheaded by former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah, as per news reports. On Monday, the first day of 10-day winter session of the state assembly commenced.
Siddaramaiah said that he was not against putting up of anyone’s portrait. He was further reported as saying that the BJP government wanted to shift the attention of the people from crucial issues like law & order. “It is not a protest, it is our demand to put up portraits of all national leaders and social reformers. The speaker has unilaterally taken a decision to put up Veer Savarkar’s portrait in the assembly,” he was reported as saying by a news portal.
“They want that our assembly proceedings should not take place. They want it disrupted. They have brought this photo because we are going to raise a lot of corruption issues against them. They don’t have any development agenda,” Karnataka Congress chief and MLA D.K. Shivakumar said to ANI.
When inquired about the protests, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai reportedly said that the decision had been taken by the speaker. “What happens inside the assembly is decided by the speaker. I will talk to our leaders and the opposition as well.”
