A fact finding committee of the Christian community has decided to submit a report to the BJP government urging it to install a 114-ft. statue of Jesus Christ at Kapala Betta in Kanakapura taluk of Ramanagaram district.
A couple of days ago, members of the committee visited the place to find out facts related to the land and issues related to the statue.
Speaking to presspersons here on Thursday, Congress MLC Ivan D’souza said the committee would submit the report to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Revenue Minster R. Ashok and urge the government to construct the statue at the earliest.
The RSS and other BJP outfits have strongly opposed the installation, following which the government ordered suspension of the work. A few days ago, Kalladka Prabhakar, RSS ideologue, took out a rally in Kanakapura opposing the installation.
The previous H.D. Kumaraswamy government allocated 10 acres for the installation of the statue. The foundation stone for the project was laid in the presence of Congress MLA and former Minister D.K. Shivakumar on December 25, 2019.
Mr. D’souza said there was nothing wrong in allocation of gomala (revenue) land for installation of the statue. Previous governments had allocated gomala land for religious purposes of different communities. However, the present BJP government was using the statue issue for gaining political mileage, he claimed.
Earlier this month, a delegation of Christian religious leaders, including Archbishop of Bengaluru, Peter Machado, met Mr. Yediyurappa and submitted petition seeking permission to install the statue.
