Deve Gowda slams BJP over Christ statue stir

JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda came down heavily on the BJP on Monday over the controversy surrounding the installation of a Jesus Christ statue in Kanakapura.

The former prime minister was responding to a question on the Sangh Parivar’s ‘Kanakapura Chalo’ rally opposing the Christ statue.

“If you don’t have any illusion about the BJP, but I know you (media) do, they broke 19 churches, they burnt the Bible, they burnt two children alive, they raped 10 nuns... it was the Congress in power in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh... and it was Deve Gowda who went everywhere (in protest),” Gowda said.

India is a secular nation having all religions, Gowda said. “Ambedkar’s Constitution provides protection to all,” he said. “I won’t find fault with what D K Shivakumar wants to do. They may have decided to instal a Jesus statue atop a hill. We don’t have a problem with it. But why go all the way there from Mangaluru,” he asked.