If Yatnal cannot prove my links with terrorists, will he go to Pakistan? Sayed Tanveer Hashmi
BJP leader Yatnal had accused AIMPLB member Hashmi of being ISIS sympathizer
Bengaluru: In what has turned into a major controversy, former Minister and senior BJP leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal has stirred controversy by leveling serious allegations against Sayed Tanveer Hashmi, also known as Tanveer Peera, a prominent Sufi and spiritual leader from Bijapur Sharif, a Sufi shrine in Karnataka.
Yatnal, via his official Twitter account, accused Hashmi of being a terror sympathizer with alleged links to terrorist groups. The BJP leader further implicated Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, claiming he shared the stage with Hashmi during a conference of Muslim scholars in Hubballi, thereby implying the Chief Minister's association with ISIS supporters and terror sympathizers.
In a tweet, Yatnal said, "Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shared the dias with ISIS supporters and Terror Sympathizers yesterday at Hubli. Tanveer Peera is a Terror Sympathiser who has links with Terror Outfits across the Middle East." He called for intelligence agencies and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate Hashmi's accounts and recent visits to the Middle East, sharing images of Congress leaders, including Siddaramaiah, with Hashmi, insinuating Congress's alignment with terrorists.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shared the dias with ISIS supporters and Terror Sympathizers yesterday at Hubli.
— Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) (@BasanagoudaBJP) December 6, 2023
Tanveer Peera is a Terror Sympathiser who has links with Terror Outfits across the Middle East.
Attached Images are his recent visits to the Middle East meeting the… pic.twitter.com/zvuwBNWXRn
Yatnal also attached some of the images of Hashmi meeting Arabs, claiming that he was “meeting the Terror Sympathizer and Radical Islamic Operatives.”
#CongresswithTerrorists pic.twitter.com/BBL1K9oIJH
— Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) (@BasanagoudaBJP) December 6, 2023
Rejecting the allegations, Syed Tajuddin Qadri, the organizer of the conference, questioned Yatnal's motives and urged him to present evidence to the police rather than making baseless claims on social media. Qadri said that Hashmi, a Sufi scholar, had a clean record, including organizing the 2016 Sufi World Conference attended by Prime Minister Modi.
“Tanveer Hashmi is not just a scholar. He is a Sufi. Making baseless allegations like this in public is not right. In 2016, he was one of the organisers of the Sufi World Conference. Even PM Modi had attended that conference, why was Yatnal silent then? Why didn’t he speak then if what he is saying is true?” Qadri told reporters on Wednesday.
“Hashmi had even attended an event recently to mark Kanaka Jayanti. He is someone who is above the religious lines. He comes from a reputed family, he was born in Vijayapura and has been involved in several social work and services. To defame a person like that with baseless allegations is not right,” Qadri said.
Hashmi himself vehemently denied the allegations, challenging Yatnal to prove them within eight days. He expressed readiness for any investigation into his links and finances, asserting his commitment to opposing and condemning terrorist activities worldwide. Hashmi questioned the authenticity of the attached photos, explaining they were from his visit to a shrine in Iraq, not a meeting with terrorists.
Sayed Tanveer Hashmi
“I am ready for any kind of investigation into my links and finances. I have nothing to hide and I challenge Yatnal to prove my links with terror outfits and his allegations within eight days. Will he go to Pakistan if he fails to prove his allegations? I challenge him,” Hashmi said.
“I have been opposing and condemning terror outfits and their activities across the world. The allegations Yatnal is making is baseless and absurd. He has attached photos stating that it was from my meeting with terrorists. Its funny that those photos have been taken from my own Facebook account. It was from my visit to Iraq to a shrine in 2013. The officials of Iraq government and the chief priest of the shrine are the people in the photos, not terrorists.
Asked about his next course of action, Hashmi said his team was exploring legal action and a team of lawyers was looking into the matter. He said they were mulling strict legal action against Yatnal for his allegations.
Amidst the controversy, pictures of Hashmi with Union Minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari surfaced on social media, indicating that leaders from both the Congress and BJP had visited Hashmi.
Tanveer Hashmi, belonging to the Hussiani Hashmi Family, is a patron of various academic, social, and religious activities of Sufi Sunni Muslims in India. Recently appointed as the President of Jamaat E Ahle Sunnat, Karnataka, he also leads the Al Hashmi Educational Welfare & Charitable Trust, providing Islamic and formal education. Hashmi is the President of the Muslim Muttahida Council (MMC), a consortium of Muslim organizations, and a member of the Muslim Personal Law Board.
In response to the allegations, Hashmi expressed his commitment to social work and services, mentioning the broad spectrum of political and social leaders who visit the shrine for blessings, including Yatnal during his JD(S) days.
“When Yatnal was in JD(S) he himself used to regularly visit our shrine and meet me. After joining BJP, he stopped. Several political and social leaders visit our shrine to take the blessings,” Hashmi said.
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Fascism will not be allowed to enter through the back door of vote rigging: CM Siddaramaiah
New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted that fascism would not be allowed to enter India “through the back door of vote rigging” and called upon citizens to collectively defend the country’s democratic foundations.
Speaking after participating in an anti–vote rigging protest organised in New Delhi, Siddaramaiah said the gathering was not merely a political demonstration but a stand to protect Indian democracy. “We have come to the heart of our republic not as Congress workers or voters, but as protectors of Indian democracy,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of the right to vote, Siddaramaiah said it was the most sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution and the very foundation of democracy.
“Through voting, a farmer shapes the future of his children, a worker safeguards his dignity, a youth realises dreams, and a nation expresses its collective will,” he said.
He accused the BJP-led Union government of attempting to undermine this right through what he termed systematic vote rigging, including the alleged misuse of the special revision of electoral rolls. “This power is being stolen repeatedly,” he alleged.
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Warning against authoritarian tendencies, Siddaramaiah said history had shown that dictatorship does not begin with violence but with the misuse of institutions and manipulation of democratic systems.
“Across the world, authoritarian regimes pretend to protect democracy while quietly subverting it. This is what the BJP is doing today,” he charged.
He alleged that the ruling party was controlling institutions, intimidating electoral machinery, distorting voter lists, suppressing voter turnout in opposition strongholds, and misusing money and power. “This is not mere maladministration. Vote rigging is an attack on the very idea of India,” he said.
Siddaramaiah further claimed that governments formed through “stolen votes” could not be considered democratic.
“Such regimes survive through fear, fraud and distortion of the people’s mandate,” he said, adding that vote rigging posed the biggest threat to the republic since Independence.
Praising Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah said he had shown exceptional courage in exposing alleged irregularities in voter lists, booth-level manipulation and “systematic, organised vote rigging” across several states, including Karnataka, Haryana and Bihar.
Referring to Karnataka, Siddaramaiah cited Mahadevpura and Aland constituencies as examples highlighted by Gandhi. In Mahadevpura, he said, thousands of allegedly fake and fraudulent voter entries and discrepancies in electoral rolls pointed to a narrow BJP victory. In Aland, he said, attempts were made to remove the names of legitimate voters ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
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He noted that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had recently filed a chargesheet accusing seven persons, including a former BJP MLA and his son, of attempting to delete the names of around 6,000 voters in Aland.
“This is a significant legal step in the fight against vote rigging,” he said.
Siddaramaiah concluded by stating that the fight against vote rigging was rooted in constitutional morality, Ambedkarite thought and the core principle of democracy. “Sovereignty belongs to the people, not to any party, regime or those who seek to steal elections,” he said.
