#RSS: Sangh family now stands against the idol of Jesus Christ
After the Sabarimala temple in Kerala and the Bababudangiri Dargah in Karnataka, the Sangh Parivar is now eyeing the statue of Jesus Christ. The previous Congress government of Karnataka had proposed to give 10 acres of land to build a 114-foot tall statue of Jesus Christ in Kanakpura, 65 km from Bengaluru, but now a right-wing organization called Hindu Jagran Vedike is demanding from the present BJP government in the state Is that he should withdraw this proposal.
Members of Hindu Jagran Vedike also organized a huge rally in Kanakapura against the proposed idol of Jesus Christ. The controversy over the proposed statue was further aggravated when the name of Congress MLA DK Shivakumar, who gave land at a cheaper rate of 10 lakhs for it, came up in an alleged money laundering case. In this connection, he was in jail for 50 days till October last year.
DK Shivakumar was a minister in the previous Congress government and he is also an MLA from Kanakpura.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has put forward a leader like Kalladka Prabhakar Bhatt to show the importance of Kanakpura rally. Kalladka is credited for converting coastal districts of Karnataka into a ‘laboratory of Hindutva’ almost two decades ago.
Talking to the media, Kalladka said that similar situation will arise in Bababudangiri Dargah and Sabarimala temple. In response, he said, “Yes. It will happen. We will not let it go like this. We will bring it to its logical end.”
In the 90s, the Sufi dargah on one side and the Dattatreya Peeth on the other hand became the subject of controversy in Chikkamagaluru, some distance away from Bengaluru. The BJP believed that because there was more than the place of Dattatreya Peetha, it should not be administered from the Sajjadanshin of the Dargah.
The result of this BJP campaign was seen as saffronisation in Malnad, a hilly region of Karnataka. Due to this, BJP also benefited greatly in elections.
Although before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had launched a similar campaign regarding the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, but this did not help the party much in the elections.
The Supreme Court of India, in its decision dated 28 September 2018, allowed women aged 10–50 years to enter the Swami Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala. After this, right-wing organizations affiliated with BJP in Kerala tried to make it a big issue.
The dispute escalated on December 25 last year i.e. Christmas Day when Shivkumar was seen laying the foundation stone with a replica of the statue of Jesus Christ on a hill in Kanakapura.
At that time, questions started arising as to how such an idol could be built on that government land where only animals are allowed to feed, open hospitals or start other public facilities.
Sivakumar told the media about this, “Christians here have been praying at this place for more than 100 years. I came here a few years ago and I saw that people are praying. I told them that they should not pray on the government land, but instead make a permanent idol for it. I suggested to them to follow the legal process.
Sivakumar says, “At that time the action was completed. Then the Revenue Secretary had also inquired about this because there were granite stones in that 10-acre land. When there was talk of buying land at a cheap price, the matter came up before the cabinet. There is a provision of 10 per cent discount on buying land for making temple and Dharamshala etc. At that time, I had asked to pay the check.
The land on which this statue of Jesus Christ will be made from granite was said to be worth one crore and Shivkumar paid 10 lakh rupees for it.
The BJP government believes that this decision was taken by the then Congress government led by Siddaramaiah. The issue of cheap land came once again in front of the HD Kumaraswamy government of JDS-Congress alliance.
Shivkumar gave a check of 10 lakh rupees for the land.
Revenue Secretary R.K. Ashok told reporters about this, “The problem is that the work of idolization has already started on an unauthorized road a few years ago. For this, power lines have been taken in an unauthorized way and unauthorized way of borewells. Excavation has also been done. The report sought in this regard has been delayed because Shiv Kumar himself appointed all the officers there as a minister. “
However, Kalladaka Prabhakar Bhatt asks other questions in this regard. He said, “I am most sad that he has placed a ‘cross’ on the Munneshwar hill. This is the place where Muni worship is done. Did he not find any other place to make the idol of Jesus Christ? He Why are you trying to humiliate us? And how can government land be given for religious purposes?
Church member and local resident Sandhyagappa Chinnaraja told the media about this, “How can we place the cross on Munneshwara hill when this place (Kapalbett hill) is three kilometres from there?”
Chinnaraja says that the Christian community has been living in that area since the year 1906.
He explains, “Our total population is around 3500 people. We chose Kapalbetta because here we do the theatrical transformation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday.”
According to Chinnaraj, the members of the Kapalbetta Development Trust delayed seeking land at a cheaper price because the Christian community could not raise all the money to give to the government.
At the same time, Bhatt says, “They should serve the society by serving Christians. But why are they doing this in our Hindu society? Whatever is happening is against the Constitution. They should do the work that is allowed in the Constitution.”
Bhatt had described Shiv Kumar as a ‘traitor’ because of his support in the construction of the idol of Jesus Christ at a rally held in Kanakpura. Asked about this, Shivkumar said, “I have built the Ram temple, built the Shiva temple and hundreds of other temples besides. Let them do what they want to do. They are in government.”
BJP says that Shivkumar is doing all this to make Sonia Gandhi happy. Shivkumar said, “Sonia Gandhi has nothing to do with this issue? This is the issue of my constituency and I am doing this for those who have supported me for years.”
Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.