New Delhi, April 30 -- The BJP on Tuesday welcomed the JD(S) decision to suspend MP Prajwal Revanna over allegations of sexual abuse, asserting that it will push for the full might of law against him, and launched a fierce counter-attack on Congress for "delayed" action by the Karnataka government. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other top BJP leaders questioned the Congress government in Karnataka as to why it did not take action against Prajwal when law and order is a state subject. Police on Sunday booked Prajwal Revanna and his father H D Revanna on charges of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation based on a complaint from a woman, who worked in their household. Prajwal is the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and nephew of former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.
A day after the Congress tore into the BJP over the allegations against the leader of its ally JD(S) in Karnataka, Shah hit back, asking, "Whose government is there in that state." Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Shah said the issue regarding Revanna reported in the media "is very hurtful and cannot be tolerated in any way". "The BJP's stand is very clear; we will not tolerate any insult to 'matri aur nari shakti'," he asserted. The home minister said Congress has been alleging that an NDA partner's candidate is involved in the incident, "but I just want to ask a small question - whose government is there in that state (Karnataka)?" "The Congress is in power in Karnataka, and this matter must have come to their attention. Why has it not taken any action on it so far? We cannot take any action as law and order is a state issue," Shah said.
In Delhi, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar told reporters that the BJP has zero tolerance towards crimes against women, while accusing the Congress of double standards and being selective on the issue. If the Congress government in Karnataka was aware of the case for weeks and months, then why did it not act so far against the accused, he asked. The JD(S) on Tuesday suspended its Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna over the alleged sex scandal. "We are glad... The law will take its course," Chandrasekhar said on the suspension.
Citing the Sandeshkhali case and the killing of Neha Hiremath, daughter of a Congress leader in Karnataka, he accused the Congress of seeking to selectively pick crimes and victims to speak on. Asked about the criticism that the BJP maintained silence even though Revanna's involvement in the case was being talked about long before it came into public domain, he said the presence of a "video" itself is not a crime and claimed that the fact that women were coerced and exploited has come out only now.Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday alleged that the Congress was spreading lies that the BJP intends to change the country's Constitution and end reservations if it returns to power for a third term. He also attacked the Congress over the sex scandal involving Janata Dal (S) MP Prajwal Revanna, asking why the ruling party of Karnataka did not take any action against the accused. "The Congress is spreading lies about BJP changing the Constitution and ending reservations... We do not see voters as minority or majority. The BJP will win 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam," he told a press conference here. The BJP is a supporter of reservations for the SC, ST and OBC and will continue to play a proactive role in safeguarding their rights, he said adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clarified this in several of his public speeches. It is the Congress that has deprived the SC, ST and OBCs of their rights ''as they gave reservations to Muslims in undivided Andhra Pradesh and for this, the OBCs were affected. Without conducting any survey, they put all Muslims in Karnataka in the OBC category and reserved 4 per cent quota for the minorities,'' Shah said. The BJP believes that reservation based on religion is not constitutionally valid and the party will remove that religion-based quota after coming to power in those states, the Union home minister said.
Referring to the Revanna issue, Shah said that the saffron party will in no way tolerate insult to women. "The issue regarding Revanna in the media is very hurtful and cannot be tolerated in any way, he said. Allegations of obscene videos and sexual abuses have been levelled against Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, and NDA-JD(S) alliance candidate for the Lok Sabha Hassan constituency where polls were held on April 26. Shah said Congress has been alleging that an NDA partner's candidate is involved in the incident, "but I just want to ask a small question - whose government is there in that state (Karnataka)?" Why the Congress, which is in power in Karnataka, has not taken any action in this matter, he asked.
"We cannot take any action as law and order is a state issue," Shah said adding that the BJP is in favour of an inquiry and JD(S) has also announced that action will be taken against Revanna. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi is "questioning us (on that issue) but I want to tell her that instead of asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi or me, she should ask her party's chief minister," he said. On the arrest of a Congress functionary of Assam on Monday for allegedly circulating a fake video of Shah, the BJP leader said the grand old party's "frustration and disappointment have reached such a level that it made and circulated it on social media and even chief ministers and state unit chiefs also forwarded it."
Shah alleged that since Rahul Gandhi assumed leadership of the Congress, its level of politics is sinking and the attempt to create confusion and mislead people is condemnable. "They should contest elections on the basis of their principles, programmes and manifesto and not by circulating a fake video," he said. Regarding Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi contesting from Amethi and Raebareli respectively, Shah said that they are running away from their traditional seats in Uttar Pradesh and ''I don't think they have the courage to fight elections from there''. ''Rahul Gandhi can say whatever he wants to do after winning elections but it all depends on whether they will get the opportunity as people are not going to give Congress a chance this time too'', he said.
He asserted that the BJP was getting a "very good response" from voters in the southern states. The senior BJP leader slammed the Congress for practising the "politics of appeasement since the very beginning", and said it wants to save "the little of what is remaining of their support base". "We are in favour of implementing the Uniform Civil Code across the country and ensuring that there is one law for people of all religions," the home minister said.
In a secular country, it is not right to have laws based on religion, and this is against the spirit of the constitution, Shah said. The BJP condemns the Congress' promise to bring back the Muslim Personal Law as mentioned in its manifesto, he said. ''The Congress in a desperation to win elections has lost simple logic and they have announced that civil contracts will be given to minorities. Contracts are given on the basis of the lowest bid, experience and the nature of past work but if even in contracts, they bring in religion, I want to ask the opposition party whether they have any reservations about their President's post,'' he said. The people of the country have given absolute majority to the BJP in 2014 and 2019 and for ten years ''we have used this absolute majority not to impose emergency or throttle democracy like the Congress did but to end Article 370, triple talaaq, change archaic British laws and bring in Indian legal system, to fight against the Corona pandemic and after getting the Court's verdict also constructed the Ram Temple'', Shah said.
Regarding allegations of Arvind Kejriwal's wife that her husband is being slowly killed in jail, the Union Home Minister said that the jails are under the Delhi government and ''they should be concerned if their own government is killing him but if I get any written complaint I will definitely look into it''.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.