The ongoing Karnataka Assembly session on Monday witnessed a furore over Forest Minister Ramanath Rai allegedly directing a senior police official to take action against a local RSS functionary, following the recent group clashes at Kalladka in Dakshina Kannada district.
The major Opposition BJP raised the issue in the Assembly and blamed the Forest Minister Rai, who is also in-charge Minister of Dakshina Kannada District of “instigating” and “influencing” the police investigation.
leader of Opposition Jagadish Shettar demanded to know under what authority the Minister was “interfering” in the police probeIJ “Is this how a responsible Minister functionsIJ He is clearly interfering in the investigation. It is highly condemnable,” he said.
He demanded Minister’s immediate resignation and quoted media reports which claimed that as per the SP’s probe, “narcotics-related activities” had led to the violence. He said “When the SP is saying that an issue related to narcotics and drugs is the reason, how can a Minister try to influence him to book an RSS leaderIJ He should be ashamed. Such an irresponsible act by the Minister has resulted in the recurrence of violence in the district.”
Other BJP members also took strong exception to the Minister “issuing instructions” to the SP.
A video clip which went viral in the social media in which Rai was purportedly seen directing Dakshina Kannada SP Bhushan Gulabrao Borase to arrest Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, an influential RSS functionary, has become a major controversy. In the clip, Rai is purportedly heard saying, “Nothing will happen if Prabhakar Bhat is arrested. If he delivers speeches, book a criminal case against him, book him under 307 (the IPC section relating to murder)...he is not a big man.”
Claiming that the BJP’s aim was to “provoke” the Muslims, the Minister is heard complaining that those with “RSS links” in the police force were yet to be removed.
BJP member Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri demanded that Rai be reprimanded for this. Another MlA KG Bopaiah claimed that the Minister was liable to face action under section 153(A) of the IPC and added that a complaint was given to the police against him.
Responding to the allegations, the Minister said the entire video had to be seen to understand the context. As he sought to hold the Sangh Parivar “responsible” for the killing of a gram panchayat vice president in the district, the BJP members objected to it and demanded proof. This resulted in a war of words between the members of the ruling party and the Opposition.
Calling himself “secular” and saying that he would resign if it was proved that he had instigated a clash on the basis of religion, Rai said, “I only told the SP to act against those involved in instigating the people. If Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat was one of them, I asked the SP to arrest him as well. It was a general statement. I did not issue any instruction to the SP. I only asked him to ensure peace and not to harass innocent people in the name of investigation.”
This led to war of words between Opposition and treasury benches. Speaker KB Koliwad said the Home Minister would give a reply on behalf of the Government later.