Shobha Karandlaje, MP for Udupi-Chikkamagaluru, has come in for criticism for labelling a living person dead in a recent letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on “communal murders” in the State.
The letter had listed Ashok Poojary of Moodbidri among those killed in communal murders in the State. He had been attacked by a group at Handel near Moodbidri on September 20, 2015, but was discharged from a hospital in Mangaluru after treatment.
Admitting to the mistake, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said it regretted the error. Ms. Karandlaje told The Hindu that she would give a fresh list to Mr. Singh leaving out Mr. Poojary’s name.
Questioning the intention of the MP, Muneer Katipalla, State president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, said it was an “irresponsible act” from Ms. Karandlaje’s part. “It is very dangerous. This amounts to misleading people and further damaging the social fabric,” he said.
Omissions
Mr. Katipalla alleged that the MP had also “deliberately” omitted the names of some victims allegedly killed by Sangh Parivar members — Praveen Poojary of Udupi and Vinayak Baliga of Mangaluru, for instance.
G. Rajashekhar, writer and president of the Udupi unit of the Karnataka Komu Sauharda Vedike, said the list only had names of people from one community. “As an MP, she represents people of all communities,” he said.
