Mysuru, 1 Sept

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday pointed at the Ram Mandir which he had helped build at his native village Siddaramanahundi and said he is not against the Hindu community as projected by BJP.

“I’m also a Hindu but not the inhuman kind like the BJP and Right-wingers,” he asserted, brushing aside the BJP’s rally at Dharmasthala.

Calling BJP’s conduct in the Dharmasthala and the Chamundi Hills issue “hypocrisy”, the Chief Minister said, they feel that Hindus will unite with them because of what they are doing, but they are wrong.

“Let them (BJP) do it, they are doing things for politics. They feel that they will benefit from it politically, but they won’t get any benefit,” Siddaramaiah said after inaugurating newly constructed PM Shree school building adopted by Kempegowda International Authority. 

“Real Hindus are not like BJP leaders who hold such rallies for political mileage,” he added. “BJP leaders are trying to project me as anti-Hindu, But it will not work out for them.”

Siddaramaiah backed Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar after the latter stirred a controversy by saying that said Chamundi Hill and Goddess Chamundeshwari were not the property of Hindus alone.

The CM accused the BJP of trying to do politics in Mysuru Dasara and asked if they know anything other than lying.

“Banu Mushtaq is a Kannada writer. She is invited to the Dasara inauguration as she is the International Booker Prize winner. How many have got this prize? As a mark of respect to her achievement, she has been invited to inaugurate Dasara,” he said. “Dasara is a Nada Habba (State festival), which is celebrated by all Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains together. We are celebrating it that way.”