Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Feb 27: "There is undeclared emergency in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah have turned destroyers. The saying in Sanskrit 'Vinashakale Vipareeta Buddhi' applies perfectly to both. It is our responsibility to save democracy," ridiculed former CM Siddarmaiah.

Siddaramaiah was speaking at the Cascia Bhavan in the city in the seminar on 'Constitution and CAA'. He expressed extreme resentment over the loss of lives and violence in Delhi.

Continuing his barrage against Modi and Shah, Siddaramaiah said, "The reign of our country has gone into the hands of worst people. Amit Shah and Narenda Modi lie openly. Scores of people have died in Delhi violence. When BJP goons entered JNU campus and beat the inmates, no case was registered. Even when RSS activists sported the uniform of police and hit the students, police did not intervene. They have transferred the judge who questioned the Delhi police of not registering case against people who did provocative speeches. Both Modi and Shah are merciless and against the constitution.

"The country is in chaos. People who are holding the power are hell bent on finishing off the constitution of the country. Attempt is being made to implement 'Manusmriti'. Today a war is being waged between the constitution and Manusmriti. Congress party has to take the lead and approach people. We have the right to protest peacefully."

Objecting CAA and NRC, Siddaramaiah gave the example of Assam and said, "The population of Assam in three crores. Union government has spent a whopping 19,000 crore to conduct the NRC survey in Assam. It will require Rs 80,000 crore to one lac crore to conduct this exercise throughout the country. In Assam, 19 lac people were branded as suspected citizens. Out of them most are Hindus. Is there a need to conduct this survey all over the country? Ten states have already condemned the act. All of us have to condemn this.

"There is no record for my date of birth. Whatever my school teacher has written is the record. According to CAA, I am also a suspected citizen. Will they send me to jail? Will they remove my voting power?"

This programme was organized by the women wing of Congress. Rajya Sabha members G C Chandrashekhar, L Hanumanthaiah, MLC Ivan D'Souza, progressive thinker Shivasundar, president of Congress state women wing Dr Pushpa Amarnath and former governor Margaret Alva participated in the seminar.