‘Remove mosques or…’: Karnataka BJP leader KS Eshwarappa warns Muslims of ‘repercussions’, Sparks Row
In December last year, KS Eshwarappa had sparked a controversy when he declared that no mosque – allegedly built on top of a temple – should be allowed to exist in the country.
Karnataka News: Days after threatening to demolish the Kashi Mosque and build a grand Kashi Vishwanath temple in its place, senior BJP leader KS Eshwarappa sparked yet another controversy on Sunday when he warned Muslims to voluntarily vacate mosques that had allegedly been built after destroying temples, otherwise they would face “severe consequences.” .
“After Ayodhya and Gyanvapi, two more places are under consideration, including Mathura. The court’s verdict may be delivered any day, but make no mistake, we will build temples in these places,” the former deputy chief minister of Karnataka said while addressing a Hindu workers’ convention in Belagavi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said it would be “beneficial” for Muslims to vacate mosques if they were on disputed temple lands or if they faced “repercussions”.
“Who knows what can happen, what the consequences will be and how many will be killed, we don’t know,” the BJP agitator said in a not-so-subtle threatening tone.
“It would be helpful if you (Muslims) leave these places voluntarily.”
‘No mosque will remain standing’
KS Eshwarappa is not new to making communal and inflammatory comments. Recently, in December last year, Eshwarappa had sparked a controversy when he declared that no mosque – supposedly built on top of a temple – should be allowed to exist in the country.
“The mosques built after the destruction of our temples will not be spared. There will be no such mosque in this country. This is my personal opinion,” Eshwarappa had said. The former minister had also made a ‘promise’ to make India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (Hindu nation).
“On January 22, the whole world will be watching Ayodhya. The legal proceedings on the Kashi Vishwanath temple issue are in favor of the Hindus. The order for a survey has been awarded for the Krishna temple in Mathura. Everything will happen one after another,” he had said.
In April last year, Eshwarappa had said that the BJP would not need Muslim votes to win the Karnataka Assembly elections.
‘I am also Karsevak’
On Thursday, the BJP leader was at the forefront of the saffron party’s ‘I am also a Karsevak, Arrest Me Too’ campaign to protest the recent arrest of a Hindu activist in connection with a 31-year-old case related to the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation.
KS Eshwarappa and CT Ravi are leading the protests in the district capital Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru respectively.
The campaign is being led by MLA and former minister V Sunil Kumar, who on Thursday staged a sit-in demonstration near Sadashivanagar police station in the state capital Bengaluru amid chants of “Jai Sri Ram” by BJP workers.
Holding a placard with the message ‘I am also a Karsevak, arrest me too’, Kumar said he had also participated in the Rama temple agitation in 1992 for which he should also be arrested. Kumar was later taken into preventive custody.