Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah courted controversy by stating at a programme in Badami that he is scared of people who sport big ‘tilaks’ on their foreheads, in an apparent dig at the Hindutva outfits.
Speaking at an event to inaugurate the rejuvenation of a lake on Tuesday, Mr. Siddaramaiah pointed to a person wearing a prominent tilak and said that such people “scared” him. The person was the contractor for the lake rejuvenation work. He went on to tell the contractor: “I’m scared of people who wear such tilaks. You have to do the work well and complete it as per schedule.”
He further said: “You know those people who wear tilaks [apparently referring to members of Hindutva outfits], I’m scared of them.”
Soon after, the BJP started #SelfieWithTilak campaign with several people joining in. Reacting to Mr. Siddaramaiah’s statement, BJP MLA and former Minister C.T. Ravi accused the former Chief Minister of “hating Hindus”. They also put up pictures of Congress national president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi wearing tilaks.
Hitting back, Mr. Siddaramaiah tweeted: “Tilaka & Saffron are essential part of Hindu culture and has sanctity to it. But since when @BJP4India tried to appropriate & abuse these symbols for their political gains, people have started fearing & doubting those who use these symbols.”
In another tweet, he also took a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and said: “There is a chief minister from @BJP4India who wears saffron & applies Tilak but has lot of criminal cases against him. Will people respect him or feel scared of him?”
