Former Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy took to social media on Monday, 15 February, to question the practice of marking the homes of donors for the construction of Ram Mandhir in Ayodhya. HDK termed the practice by the Sangh Parivar “similar to what the Nazi party did during Adolf Hitler’s regime in Germany,” where lakhs of people from the Jewish community were executed.
“It appears that those collecting donations for the construction of Ram Mandir have been separately marking the houses of those who paid money and those who did not. This is similar to what Nazis did in Germany during the regime of Hitler when lakhs of people lost their lives,” the former CM tweeted on Monday.
In his following tweet, Kumaraswamy wrote, “I don’t know where these developments, which are being witnessed in India, will take us finally.”
The former chief minister’s tweets on the Ram Mandhir is in reference to the efforts of the donation drive undertaken by Sangh Parivar at the behest of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, the trust set up by the Union government for the constriction of the temple. The government-appointed trust has so far collected over Rs 1,500 crore through lakhs of karyakartas belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
TNM had earlier reported that after collecting the donation fund for the construction of the temple from homes, the workers of the Sangh Parivar issue stickers to be pasted on front doors of the donor(s). The BJP government-appointed Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Nyas (RJTKN) has developed an app to be used at district levels across the country to record details of donors. The app collects donor bank account details, details of the receipt issued to them and the person who collected the donation, among other details. Members of the VHP told TNM that the app was being used for merely tallying the funds collected.
The former Karnataka CM went on to claim in his tweets how the RSS took roots around the same time when the Nazi party was founded in Germany.
”Historians say that RSS took birth at the same time when the Nazi Party was founded in Germany. There are concerns about what will happen if the RSS tries to implement similar policies adopted by Nazis. The fundamental rights of people are being snatched away in the country now,” he tweeted while adding that the country was witnessing a situation where one cannot freely express his or her views. “This is nothing but an undeclared emergency,” said Kumaraswamy.
The Janata Dal (Secular) leader lamented that a situation has been created in a country where nobody can share their feelings. “I do not know what will happen if the media upholds the government’s views in the coming days. In such a situation, it is difficult to guess what would be the fate of the common man. It is clear from the emerging trends that anything may happen in the country,” he added.
Kumaraswamy is a two-time former chief minister of Karnataka and son of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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