Cong MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan's "Muslims outnumber Vokkaligas" comment stirs controversy in Karnataka
Bengaluru, Jul 25: Congress leader and MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan's remarks about Muslims outnumbering Vokkaligas in Karnataka has stirred a controversy, with it now taking the shape of "community politics."
Vokkaliga leaders from the ruling BJP hit out at Khan for his remarks by projecting it as an attempt to belittle the politically dominant community, even as Congress leaders attempted damage control while expressing reservations against the comments made.
There are reports that Nirmalanandanatha swamiji, a prominent Vokkaliga seer, has conveyed his unhappiness to Congress leaders in this regard.
Khan, who is considered to be a close confidant of Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, while reacting to party's state President D K Shivakumar's attempt to consolidate the Vokkaliga community, had recently said that nobody can become the Chief Minister with support from just one community.
"No one can become CM with support from one community, everyone will have the desire (to become CM) that's not wrong...it is possible (to become CM) only by taking all communities together? I too have a desire to become CM, my community's percentage is more than that of Vokkaligas. Is it possible for me to become CM, just with the support of my community? Not possible," Khan said.
Shivakumar, who is a Vokkaliga, had recently called on the community, which forms a major vote-bank in the old Mysuru or southern Karnataka region, to support his Chief Ministerial bid.
Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah have been engaged in a political one-upmanship for months now, as both are Chief Ministerial aspirants in the event of Congress coming to power in the state after 2023 Assembly polls.
Though Siddaramaiah has been maintaining that the party's newly elected legislators and high command will decide on who will be the Chief Minister, his loyalists including Khan have been openly making statements in favour of their leader, ignoring warnings of disciplinary action, leaving the party virtually divided.
Khan's statement that Muslims outnumber Vokkaligas in the state, while trying to make a case for Siddarmaiah as CM face, has now led to a controversy and has drawn criticism.
Expressing his displeasure over Khan's statement, Congress leader and Vokkaliga leader from Mandya Cheluvarayaswamy said, "unnecessary mentioning" about the community was not right.
Noting that Khan's statements regarding the Vokkaliga community have elicited reactions from Swamijis, BJP leaders, he said, "Was it needed?....demanding that my Muslim community is strong and we also should be given a chance- is not wrong, but saying we are more than (outnumber) Vokkaligas is unnecessary....it will now be interpreted as the Congress not standing up for Vokkaligas."
Another Congress leader and MLA Priyank Kharge without taking Khan's name said, those in responsible positions should see to it that what they speak should not cause damage to community, party and society at large.
"No one should behave in a way that cause damage to the organisation, my goodwill towards someone should not hurt others, there is a party forum like CLP to express your views....president and seniors will take a call regarding disciplinary action," he said but defended Shivakumar by stating that he only sought support of his community.
BJP leaders while criticising Khan also targeted Shivakumar for bringing in community to promote personal ambitions and pointed out that Vokkaligas don't belong to any one party.
Hitting out at the Congress for bringing the community into their internal fighting, senior Minister and a prominent Vokkaliga face within the ruling BJP R Ashoka said, the community will not forgive the grand old party and they should stop such things.
"Settle your issues within, don't bring community, this country runs as per Constitution, where CM is for the whole state and not for a community...They (Congress) are speaking about Vokkaliga. I'm also a Vokkaliga, what rights do they have to speak about Vokkaligas? The community is respected, the community (largely farming) provides food for the society," he said.
"Don't cross the 'Lakshmanrekha' with regards to Vokkaligas. Congress already has an experience, because of the way they dealt with Veerendra Patil (former CM), his community (Lingayats) are not with the party till today," Ashoka reminded.
BJP National General Secretary C T Ravi said, there was a time when there was a feeling that elections can be won only with the help of Muslim votes, which had led to appeasement politics.
"That time has gone long ago, Zameer bhai (Khan)....threatening and blackmailing in the name of vote bank has gone long ago. Let Zameer bhai remember that one can do politics today by stating 'Bharat Mataki Jai' and working for people," he added.
Reacting to the criticism, Khan said, he has a cordial relationship with the swamiji and Vokkaliga community and any one can enquire about it at the Adichunchanagiri Mutt (a prominent Vokkaliga seminary).
Khan, who was earlier with JD(S), even went on to claim that party's patriarch and former PM H D Deve Gowda- one of the tallest Vokkaliga leaders- to be his "political guru", as he hit out at BJP leaders Ashoka and Ravi, accusing them of being greedy about "chair and power" and not having any love towards people any community.
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Sheikh Hasina should be allowed to stay in India as long as she wants: Mani Shankar Aiyar
Kolkata (PTI): Former career diplomat, ex-union minister and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that deposed Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina should be allowed to stay in India as long as she wants.
Expressing happiness that Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri went to Dhaka last month and held discussions with the authorities there, Aiyar told PTI on the sidelines of the 16th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival that the talks should be continuous and New Delhi needs to establish ministerial contacts with the interim government of Bangladesh.
About demands by Bangladesh to extradite Hasina, he said, "I hope we will never disagree that Sheikh Hasina has done a lot of good for us. I am glad she was given refuge. I think we should be her host as long as she wants, even if it is for all her life."
Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5 when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her 16-year regime.
The Congress leader said that it is true that minority Hindus in Bangladesh are being attacked, but mostly it is because they are supporters of Hasina.
“They (reports about attacks on Hindus) are true but exaggerated because many of the conflicts are more about settlement of political differences," he said on Saturday.
Earlier during a question hour session, Aiyar said that Pakistanis are much like Indians, but only the accident of partition made them a different country.
“There exists much more difference in me as a Tamil and my wife as a Punjabi, than between her and a Pakistani Punjabi,” he said.
Taking a jibe at the Narendra Modi regime, the Congress leader claimed, “We have the courage to undertake surgical strike but this government does not have the courage to sit across the table with them."
Pakistan is a country which "spreads terror but it is also a victim of terror', Aiyar said.
"They (Pakistan) thought they could bring Taliban to power in Afghanistan, (but) today their single biggest threat is the Taliban in Afghanistan," he said.
In a compliment to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Aiyar said his single biggest achievement was to ensure that India talked to Pakistan on the back channel on what Gen Musharraf called the four-point agreement on Kashmir.
Singh also showed that it is possible to talk business with a military government, he said.
"It is suicidal for us to continue wearing Pakistan around our neck like the albatross. We should just talk to them as Manmohan Singh showed on the issue of Kashmir,” he said.
Aiyar took part in a discussion on his recent book where he touched on issues like his relation with the Gandhi family, his tryst with the Congress party, his stint in the days at Cambridge and his commentary on the present situation in the country.
