Accusing the BJP of threatening college students to support the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday said Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa should control "hooligans" from his party.
The former Chief Minister was reacting to an incident where some BJP workers allegedly created ruckus near a girl's college while seeking support for CAA by raising slogans, as students opposed a pro-CAA banner on the wall of their institution.
"@BJP4Karnataka goons are threatening students of Jyotinivas College to support CAA. Mr @BSYBJP, I am strictly warning you to control hooligans from your party.
Don't subvert knowledge & institutions for your selfish motives. We won't let Ktaka to be the victim of your Hitler rule!" Siddaramaiah tweeted.
"Educational institutions are a source of dissemination of knowledge, critical thinking & scientific temper.
While @BJP4India ideology is on weak foundations of fascism. BJP is threatened by the knowledge base of our Universities & hence they want to subvert & weaken them," he said in another tweet.
Later, speaking to reporters in Hubballi, Siddaramaiah said there was no democracy in the country now, and the freedom of expression that has been guaranteed by the constitution is being curtailed.
Alleging that an "atmosphere of fear" was being created in the country, he reiterated that the recent attack on students at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University was "government-sponsored" and questioned as to why no one has been arrested so for in connection with the incident.
The Congress leader also claimed that the freedom of students and rights enshrined for citizens under the Constitution are being snatched away, and there was a kind of "totalitarianism" in the country these days.
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