Displeased with a section of the BJP leaders turning into “undisciplined men”, party veteran and former deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa has cautioned that the central leadership is keeping a close watch. He said that the Congress’s “hawa of indiscipline” is seeping into the BJP, and action will be taken against leaders found falling out of line.
In a freewheeling exclusive interview to News18, Eshwarappa spoke on the issue of reclaiming places where allegedly once temples existed but later mosques were built over them. Critical of the Congress’s five guarantees, he said that these will come back to “bite the Congress”. Edited excerpts:
You have made a statement that wherever mosques have been built over temples, they will be demolished and temples reconstructed. How many such temples are there?
Let me answer this by giving you a national perspective first. In Ayodhya, we all know the history of the Ram Mandir there and how we are fighting to reclaim its sanctity. It’s been more than 500 years that the struggle has been on and now the Ram Mandir has finally got some form and identity that it truly deserves. By Makar Sankranti next year, we’ll all be able to witness the beauty and divinity of the temple. In the same way, the issue around the Kashi Vishwanath temple is in the courts. The court has issued an order for a survey to be conducted. Thirdly, the Mathura Sri Krishna temple…one look at it shows that the Krishna Mandir was demolished and a mosque was built in its place. In this context, just by the look of it, wherever we have had temples, places where mosques have been built, be it 50 or 500 years ago, in those places, temples will be built again. We do not have issues wherever mosques have been newly built by Muslims.
What about in Karnataka and disputed religious places like the Malali mosque near Mangaluru? Will that also be part of the change that you are speaking of?
Wherever we can fight for our rights legally and build our temples back again, we will give our first preference there. A further plan of action will be decided later.
Are you conducting a survey of places where, as you claim, there were temples initially and then mosques were built over them?
As I said earlier, we will conduct surveys and submit evidence to the courts on places that were once temples and later turned into mosques. We will fight it out in the courts and rebuild temples there.
The Goa chief minister had said that his government will identify all the temples that were allegedly desecrated by the Portuguese, shifted out, or built churches in those places, and those temples and deities will be brought back to their original place of consecration. Is this move similar to that?
Let me ask you one thing. Why did we fight for the independence of our country? We fought to safeguard our Indian culture and tradition. We fought to save our faith and free our culture and traditions from external factors that were threatening to hurt our socio-religious-cultural fabric. Our freedom fighters have even sacrificed their lives for this. We should ensure that we keep our ‘parampara and sanskriti’ (tradition and culture) intact in order to ensure their sacrifice has not gone in vain. We should oppose cow slaughter, oppose religious conversions, and ensure that we safeguard all our ‘punyakshetras’ or religious shrines. We will do everything within the purview of the law.
The Congress, which is in power in Karnataka, is speaking of reviewing and reversing two controversial laws that were passed in the previous BJP government: the anti-cow slaughter and the anti-conversion law. How do you react to it?
The Congress is alive in India only because it has the support of the Muslims. In places where it does not have the support of the Muslim community, there Congress is a ‘dead’ political party. The Congress was able to come to power in Karnataka because the entire Muslim community voted in favour of it. The BJP took resolutions to bring to a stop forced conversions into Islam and also banned the PFI. The Congress is taking decisions only to satisfy the Muslim community. The Karnataka BJP has decided to vehemently oppose the move by the Congress to reverse the BJP government’s decision against cow slaughter and forced religious conversions. We will protest in the Vidhan Sabha and outside the assembly premises in the upcoming session as well.
How do you see the Congress government’s efforts to implement the five guarantees like the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, Gruha Jyothi scheme, Shakti bus scheme, etc?
They brought these guarantees only to secure votes in their favour and this led to their win in the assembly elections. Now these very guarantees are coming back to bite them. They have promised 3,000 rupees to unemployed graduates. A single graduate has not received the promised monetary guarantee. They are now putting conditions on who can avail of the scheme and graduates from which year (2022-23). This clause was not there when they made the promise. Women are still waiting for the stipend of Rs 2,000 and they also claim they will give 10 kg of food grains. It is the BJP government at the Centre that is giving 5 kg, beyond that the Congress is unable to give even 1 kg to the people as promised. With the free power guarantee, now they have doubled the price of power for the consumers. Now they are doing a U-turn on their promises. All their promises are a 100 per cent failure. If they do not deliver, they will face the wrath of the voters and we as the opposition also will not remain quiet.
How do you see the shared responsibility between Siddarmaiah and DK Shivakumar after the tussle between them for the chief ministerial seat?
I read in the media that there is an agreement of sharing power for 2.5 years each between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. Later, we heard the ministers MB Patil and HC Mahadevappa saying that Siddaramaiah will remain CM for the full term of five years. But Siddaramaiah has remained mum on the issue. Randeep Singh Surjewala also has gagged the Congress leaders from commenting on the matter. The day Surjewala says that Siddaramaiah will be the CM for five years, this Congress government will collapse that very second.
The BJP got just 65 seats in the assembly polls. Did you expect such a poor performance?
We did not expect to get just 65 seats. The Congress’s guarantees impressed the voters and helped the party win. I do agree we had issues within the BJP as well. We were trying to manage it and work unitedly. People believed the five guarantees that the Congress promised. There is infighting in the BJP, but it’s not a big issue. We will straighten out those causing issues and bring them in line with the BJP’s disciplinary culture. No person is bigger than the BJP.
There is serious trouble brewing in the Karnataka BJP and the infighting within is hurting the image of the party as well. You had said that those who came from the Congress into the BJP were the cause of these internal squabbles. Is this true?
We do not have problems with those who joined the BJP recently. What I said in Hubballi was that we suffered losses due to the poor performance of the BJP in the Bombay-Karnataka region. I have been misquoted in the media that I said the new entrants were the issue. What I said is that the BJP is a disciplined party, but of late the party is facing the ‘hawa (air) of indiscipline’ as seen in the Congress. The BJP national leaders are closely monitoring this and very soon they will bring back the discipline and order that the BJP is proud of. The central leaders are keeping a close watch on those who are trying to break the discipline of the BJP and strict action will be taken against them.
Why has the BJP not decided on a leader of opposition yet in Karnataka? Are the internal squabbles in the party causing the delay?
We will make a decision when the time is right. The legislative assembly session will begin on July 3, we will do it before that. What is the hurry?
Why the delay?
There is no delay, we will do it when it is time. There are burning issues that the central leadership is handling like the situation in Manipur. In Karnataka, the decision will be taken soon.
Senior BJP leaders like Basangouda Patil Yatnal have been making statements against former CM Basavaraj Bommai. We have also seen statements from other senior leaders like Murugesh Nirani. There seems to be a blame game playing out in the state unit of the BJP.
This is not the disciplinary culture of the BJP. I believe that it should be sorted out within the four walls of the party and resolved amicably.
Will you take disciplinary action against those who make such public statements targeting other BJP leaders?
Let them first try to sort it out within closed doors. If not, then action can be taken. But it is important to hold detailed discussions within the party and not in public.
Will Nalin Kateel be changed as the BJP state unit chief?
The state president himself has said that his term is over. The decision to change or not is left to the national leaders. We all will accept what the central leadership decides.
Are you in the race of being made the BJP state unit president?
The decision is left to the central leaders. I am just a disciplined soldier of the BJP. The national leaders told me not to contest elections. In less than half an hour, I made a decision and sent my letter to the high command, saying I will not contest. This party has given me everything. I was even the deputy CM of Karnataka. I am not at all upset. I will do the task that the leaders ask me to do.
With the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, do senior leaders like you and BS Yediyurappa have a plan of action for the party’s success?
Seven special teams have been touring the state to revive and invigorate the cadre and leaders. Yediyurappa, Kateel, and I have been touring and boosting the morale of the party workers to ensure we win handsomely. I do agree that in some areas like Bagalkot, there have been issues, but we are working hard for the parliamentary elections. We will win all the seats and the Congress will be reduced to nil.