Congress's Siddaramaiah Sparks Row With Hindutva vs Hindu Remark

Former Karnataka chief minister and the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, Siddaramiah, on Monday triggered controversy with his remark that he is not anti-Hindu but anti-Hindutva as according to him, Hindutva is for murder, violence and discrimination.

Speaking in Kalaburagi during the launch of a book - a biopic of former congress MLA BR Patil, Mr Siddaramiah said, "Hindutva is against Constitution. Hindutva and Hindu dharma is different. I'm not against the Hindu religion. I'm a Hindu but oppose Manuvad and Hindutva."

"No religion supports murder and violence but Hindutva and Manuvad support murder, violence and discrimination," he added.

This is not the first time the minister has sparked controversy with his remarks on Hindutva. Earlier on January 8, he asserted that he was a Hindu but opposed Hindutva. At the same event, he also said that he never opposed Ram Temple in Ayodhya but was against using it for political gain.

On Saturday, Mr Siddaramiah, also launched an attack on Karnataka Animal Husbandry Minister, Prabhu Chauhan, calling him a 'fool' who cannot tell a goat from a cow.

Taking to social media, Mr Siddaramiah made a series of tweets in which he slammed the Animal Husbandry Minister of state and the functioning of the state government. "This minister is not fluent in any language including Kannada. Such people are unfit to be MLAs," he wrote in Kannada.

Lashing out at the BJP, the minister said, "The BJP leaders paid Rs 15 to 20 crores to each MLA and formed the government under the leadership of Yeddyurappa through 'Operation Kamala."

"In 2013, we fulfilled 158 of the 165 promises and launched 30 new programmes. The BJP made 600 promises in 2018, of which 50 to 60 were not fulfilled, " the minister claimed.

Mr Siddaramiah said by imposing an 18 per cent tax on pens, pencils, books, and yoghurt, the government had put more burden on the common man.

However, he added that Congress has decided to give Rs 20,00 per month to every house owner and 200 units of electricity per month for free.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)