“Lot of difference between work done by RSS under Hedgewar and of the Sangh today”

Team Udayavani, Oct 8, 2021, 5:19 PM IST

JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Friday said the work done by RSS during its formative days under its founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar was appreciated by everyone and very different to what was being done by the Sangh at present.

”The work done by Hedgewar’s (founding Sarsanghachalak of RSS) Sangh or RSS was different from the work done today… there is no relation at all,” Gowda said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said the kind of work the organisation did then was appreciated by everyone. ”I don’t want to say what happened during whose time….day by day what all happened. What Golwalkar (Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar-RSS’ second Sarsanghchalak) said at Ramlila Maidan, what all happened after that, what a national tragedy…. Let’s leave it at that and don’t go into detail,” he added.

The JD(S) supremo also rejected a recent statement by some BJP leaders while attacking party leader H D Kumaraswamy that Gowda had accepted the RSS ideology and had publicly appreciated it in the past.

Recalling that he as Chief Minister shared a stage with L K Advani, Rama Jois and other leaders at Vidhana Soudha’s banquet hall at an event linked to the Emergency, he clarified that ”after hearing their (BJP leaders) speeches, I had given it back, saying they should not have misused the platform….I have said what I had to. It was reported in the media…it is not right to connect different things or situations and say I had good relations with RSS.”

Gowda’s son Kumaraswamy’s recent charge that the RSS, as part of its ‘hidden agenda’, has created a team of bureaucrats in this country, had drawn flak from state BJP leaders. Speaking about Janata Parva 1.0”, a seven-day workshop for party leaders held recently, aimed at bringing JD(S) to power in Karnataka in 2023, Gowda said, ”If people give strength to our party and if we achieve mission 123 (winning 123 out of 224 seats in the assembly polls), the party will implement the Pancharatna programme.” This five fold programme that JD(S) plans to implement in the event of it coming to power include quality education, health, housing, farmer welfare and employment.

Hitting back at Congress leader Siddaramaiah’s criticism against JD(S) for fielding Muslim candidates in Sindgi and Hangal assembly segments, which will go to the bypolls on October 30, Gowda pointed to his contribution to the community and its leaders, who grew under his wings and said, ”Congress has not taken any contract for the Muslims cause. Let’s discuss this at the election. Don’t indulge in false campaigns. We are a regional party from which you (Siddaramaiah) too have grown….” he said.

Siddaramaiah has alleged that JD(S) deliberately fielded minority candidates for the Hangal and Sindgi by-elections to help the BJP. The by-elections have been necessitated as the seats fell vacant following the death of Sindgi JD(S) legislator M C Manguli and BJP’s C M Udasi from Hangal. Recalling how he identified Manguli and got him elected, Gowda flayed Congress for taking his son Ashok Managuli to the party and making him the candidate for the bypolls from Sindgi.

”I will go door to door and seek votes for my party’s candidate. I will inform the people about my contribution to their constituency (Sindgi) as CM and Water Resources minister in the past and that I have come to them at the final phase of my life.. bless my candidate. I have not fielded my candidate to help BJP,” he said, as he pointed to the ‘decline’ of the Congress in the country.