BJP's SC morcha collects chaddis for Siddaramaiah

The campaign by the RSS is likely to be taken up by workers all over the state, according to sources

The BJP SC Morcha held a protest in front of leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah's residence on Tuesday, where they attempted to dump shorts (chaddis) collected from different parts of the state.

The shorts were collected by different BJP units, in protest against Siddaramaiah's remarks against the RSS.

Siddaramaiah had threatened that the Congress party would burn chaddis across the state, if the government failed to release NSUI workers who were arrested for protesting and burning a khaki chaddi outside Education Minister B C Nagesh's Tiptur residence.

BJP SC Morcha president Chalawadi Narayanaswamy said Siddaramaiah had insulted everyone who wears chaddis by giving a call to burn khakhi shorts, which was formerly a part of the RSS' uniform.

"Earlier, the military and police wore chaddis as uniform. Labourers and farmers wear chaddis," Narayanaswamy said.

The Morcha took took out a procession from Gandhi Bhavan to Siddaramaiah's residence to dump the shorts.

"The call for a campaign by Siddaramaiah to burn chaddis targeted RSS and the BJP. RSS men started wearing pants six to seven years ago," he said.

The protestors were detained by the police.

Meanwhile, in a tweet, the Karnataka Congress urged Dalits to keep distance from the BJP.

"BJP cannot treat Dalits in a respectful manner and has assigned them the responsibility of collecting chaddis used by someone. This is an example of how BJP and RSS treats Dalits," Congress said in a tweet.

Responding to the protests in a tweet, Siddaramaiah said that while he respected Narayanaswamy's right to protest, he had contempt for the 'slave mentality,' which enabled him to carry old chaddis on his head.

"Your position is limited to this. You will always remain an untouchable for the top leadership of the Sangh," he said.