Congress leader and chief minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday by contrasting Hinduism and Hindutva. Speaking on the 139th Foundation Day of the grand old party in Bengaluru he said, ‘soft Hindutva’ is a political strategy of the BJP to win over votes from moderate Hindus without compromising votes from the minority communities.
“Hindutva is Hindutva. I’m a Hindu. Hindutva is different and Hindu is different,” said Siddaramaiah adding that are the BJP members the only ones who worship Ram. Don’t we worship Ram? He further questioned, “Haven’t we built Ram Mandirs? Don’t we sing Ram Bhajans?”
His statement comes ahead of the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday visit the town to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of a slew of projects, including the newly constructed airport terminal, and a railway station.
Sharing insight from his life, Siddaramaiah continued that he used to go for bhajans in his village and said “We are also Hindus.” He stated that Hindutva propagated by the BJP is ‘fake’.
Reiterating his party’s participation in freedom struggle he said, “Not a single person from BJP, Jan Sangh, RSS, and Sangh Parivar fought against the British.” He alleged that RSS was born during the regime of the British, adding that none from the group fought against the British for a single day.
Earlier this year, the CM echoed similar comments asserting that Hindutva is against the Constitution. He said, ” Hindutva is against the Constitution. Hindutva and Hindu religion are different. I’m not against the Hindu religion… I am a Hindu. How can I be anti-Hindu?, but I oppose Manuvad and Hindutva.”
He also said that he never opposed Ram Temple in Ayodhya but was against using it for political gain. Back in February, Siddaramaiah kicked a row after claiming that Hindutva supports murder and discrimination.
In light of this, Siddaramaiah’s remarks are being interpreted as an attempt to win over at least some moderate Hindu voters in advance of the Lok Sabha election 2024—especially in a state where consecutive assembly and Lok Sabha elections have historically seen a low turnout for the incumbent party.
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