Congress MLC B K Hariprasad, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar
Credit: DH Photo and PTI Photo
Bengaluru: B K Hariprasad on Monday wondered if Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar was trying to “impress someone” by singing the RSS’ prayer inside the Assembly, an episode that has divided the ruling party.
On August 21, Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress president, raised eyebrows when he broke into the RSS’ prayer Namaste Sada Vatsale... in the Assembly during a debate on the June 4 Chinnaswamy stadium stampede. He sang two lines of the prayer upon a slight provocation by Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka.
“We have no objection to Shivakumar reciting the prayer as the deputy CM because a government belongs to all, including the RSS. But he’s not supposed to say it as the Congress president. If he said it as Congress president, he’ll have to apologise,” Hariprasad said. “It’s wrong to recite the prayer of an organisation that killed Mahatma Gandhi.”
Hariprasad said he was studying law when Shivakumar was a pre-university student. “Shivakumar has many faces. He says he’s an agriculturist, a quarry owner, an educationist, a businessman...I don’t know to whom he wanted to send a message. I don’t know who he was trying to impress by reciting the RSS prayer,” Hariprasad said.
After Shivakumar’s act in the Assembly, ministers Dr H C Mahadevappa and Priyank Kharge took to social media to attack the RSS - the BJP’s ideological parent - as if to criticise the deputy chief minister. Senior Congress lawmaker K N Rajanna, who was sacked, has asked why Shivakumar gets away with no action.
Shivakumar has worn his Hindu identity on his sleeve all while being a relentless Congress loyalist. In fact, one minister quipped that if Shivakumar became the CM, then the BJP would not have much scope to rake up ‘emotional’ issues.
The Assembly incident sparked off speculation that Shivakumar, who is waiting for his turn to become the chief minister, would join hands with the BJP if push came to shove.
Law & Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil played down Shivakumar’s RSS prayer. “He said it in a flow. There’s no need to read too much into it. We must understand the context. Unnecessary political analysis is wrong,” he said.
Even Hariprasad did not entertain the idea that Shivakumar would go rogue. “I don’t think he’ll undertake such an adventure,” he said.