By Scroll Staff
Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal has been booked in two cases in less than a week for making allegedly provocative speeches about the Muslim community in the state, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
On September 10, the Maddur town police registered a case against Yatnal for remarks made during a Ganesha idol immersion in Mandya district. Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including MP Pratap Sinha and MLC C T Ravi, were also present at the event.
During his speech, Yatnal, who was expelled from the BJP in March for six years over “anti-party” remarks, announced that he planned to launch a new political outfit called the “Karnataka Hindu Party,” with a bulldozer as its election symbol, The Indian Express reported.
The September 10 event was organised after communal clashes broke out on September 7 during a Ganesha procession, when stones were allegedly thrown.
On September 13, Tumakuru town police filed a suo motu case against Yatnal for another speech at a Ganesha immersion event, the newspaper reported.
Yatnal, the MLA from Bijapur City, allegedly said the “Karnataka government means Tipu Sultan government,” referring to the 18th-century Mysuru ruler. He claimed that only members of a minority community were receiving contracts, reservations and development benefits.
The first information report in Tumakuru was filed under sections related to promoting enmity between religious groups and delivering provocative speeches, The New Indian Express reported.
In recent years, while the Congress and several other parties have celebrated Tipu Sultan as a freedom fighter who resisted the British and modernised Mysore’s administration, several BJP leaders and Hindutva groups have claimed that he was “anti-Hindu” and accused him of religious persecution.
This story was originally published in scroll.in.