Legislative Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri’s suggestion to the former Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan (Congress) that “if not today, tomorrow you will also say the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) is our organisation” sparked off a heated debate in the House on Thursday. Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, who mentioned the RSS while speaking on the law and order situation in the State, blamed the BJP for the “collapse” of law and order. Mr. Kageri asked Mr. Siddaramaiah, “Why does our RSS bother you so much?” and then told Mr. Khan, “If not today, tomorrow you will also say the RSS is our organisation.”
‘Acceptance in future’
Immediately, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa stood up and said, “All Muslims and Christians have to accept the RSS in future.” Mr. Khan and the former Home Minister K.J. George (both Congress) took exception to Mr. Eshwarappa’s remark and said such a statement was not acceptable to them. Meanwhile, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the RSS’ objective was to establish “Manuvada” (the precepts of Manusmiriti) and he would not accept the RSS ideology.
Intervening in the debate, Revenue Minister R. Ashok said the President of India, the Vice-President, and the Prime Minister all have RSS background and that “we should be happy about it”.
Constitution and RSS
Priyank Kharge (Congress) said Mr. Kageri was speaking about the relevance of the Constitution as well as about the RSS from the Speaker’s chair. “But the RSS has no faith in the Constitution and it has burnt copies of the Constitution,” Mr. Kharge said. Ruling BJP members took exception to Mr. Kharge’s remark and Mr. Kageri told the Congress member not to “indulge in politics” and interpret facts wrongly.
Earlier, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the State would witness a high growth rate by attracting investment only by maintaining law and order. The human indicators in higher education and the economic growth would suffer if the Government failed to maintain law and order in the State, he said. Many small and medium industries had remained closed and unemployment among graduates increased after the BJP came to power, he said.
