A week after BJP MLA Harish Poonja delivered an Islamophobic speech at an event in a temple at Thekkaru, located in the communally sensitive Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, the temple management issued a letter to the village’s Muslim community, expressing regret over the legislator’s remarks.
During his speech at the Brahmakalashotsava program at Thekkaru Gopalakrishna Temple, Belthangady constituency MLA Harish Poonja questioned why the temple’s Brahmakalashotsava invitation was extended to Muslim mosques, stating, “We have no relation with Muslims.”
In the speech, delivered in Tulu, the two-time MLA accused members of the Muslim community of vandalising tube lights and stealing diesel from generators used for lighting during the temple event.
“Our biggest mistake has been trying to maintain harmony by including everyone. Why did we need to go to the mosque and extend an invitation? Because you gave them the invitation, they broke the tube lights. We shouldn’t engage in such balancing acts. We are Hindus, and we must stand by that,” he said.
“You (Hindus) are only 150 families in Thekkaru. The Muslim community has 1,200 families. In another ten years, their numbers won’t drop to 600. Instead, the number of Bearys will grow from 5,000 to 10,000. Regardless of their numbers, we must unite, rise above caste differences, and work towards the development of the temple,” he added.
Bearys are a community residing in the villages of coastal Karnataka.
His controversial remarks come just days after communal tensions escalated in the coastal Dakshina Kannada district, following two murders in Mangaluru.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.