While reacting to former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s criticism of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement that Hindi was the only language that could unite the country, K.S. Eshwarappa, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, made a derogatory reference to Vadda, a Scheduled Caste.
Expressing displeasure against Mr. Shah’s push for Hindi language, Mr. Siddaramaiah had said in Mysuru that Mr. Shah was a ‘dadda’ (stupid person) and was ignorant of the linguistic diversity of the nation.
Reacting to this here on Tuesday, Mr. Eshwarappa said that Mr. Siddaramaiah was better suited for the epithet ‘dadda’. He further said that Mr. Siddaramaiah was behaving like a person belonging to ‘Vadda’, a community classified as Scheduled Castes engaged in civil construction works.
Soon realising the mistake, Mr. Eshwarappa said the members of ‘Vadda’ community were known for hard work. He added that he had no intention to disrespect the community, and requested presspersons not to highlight the issue.
