Karnataka Minister Yathindra Siddaramaiah’s sharp attack on RSS stirs row

Mysuru (Karnataka), Aug 17 (IANS) Karnataka Minister for Urban Development, Yathindra Siddaramaiah, has stirred a controversy by launching a sharp attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), describing the organisation as a “thousand-headed poisonous snake” driven by communalism, casteism and Manuvad.

The video containing the statement went viral on social media on Monday.

Minister Yathindra is the son of former CM and Congress Working Committee (CWC) Member Siddaramaiah.

Yathindra made the remarks during a protest held outside the Congress office in Mysuru on August 15, opposing an alleged “purification” ritual carried out after AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a public rally in Haldwani, Uttarakhand.

“The RSS is like a thousand-headed poisonous snake. It is filled with the poison of casteism, communalism and Manuvad. It is a snake that spits poison and attempts to poison the entire society. If it is not controlled, our society will be destroyed, and the country will also suffer,” Yathindra said.

He also demanded that the RSS, BJP and Sri Ram Sena publicly apologise to Mallikarjun Kharge over the alleged purification ritual following his speech.

“The RSS, BJP and Sri Ram Sena should publicly apologise to our Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge. Until they do so, we must continue this protest without fear,” he said.

He also called upon people to condemn what he described as the “disgraceful mindset” of the RSS and protest against it.

Defending Yathindra Siddaramaiah’s statement against the RSS, Minister for Home, IT and BT Priyank Kharge stated, “What should I say? Only a thousand? It’s more. I don’t think it’s a thousand-headed snake.

There are millions of people across whom they have brainwashed, whom they have let loose to sow seeds of discontentment, to sow communal seeds. And it is evident.”

It is extremely evident. Please see their history. The problem is nobody has read their history properly. Zero contribution with respect to nation-building but a hundred per cent contribution to create chaos within the country, Minister Kharge stated.

Who are these people? They manufacture their own history. They manufacture lies. They send out people against each other. So, when in Uttarakhand, the Haldwani issue happened where Mallikarjun Kharge had gone for a speech, and they purified it, right? That’s the mindset they have. Who are these people? The RSS people, Priyank Kharge underlined.

The paper leak- who was there? An RSS chap was there. Who has taken over all the institutions? RSS. And these are the people who are slowly brainwashing everybody. I am hopeful that Gen Z will not commit the same mistakes that we did, and they will be able to see through the design of the RSS.

–IANS

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