Mangaluru : Dakshina Kannada district unit of BJP to hold a 22-km padayatra from Puttur to Padumale in Puttur taluk on October 2 seeking action against forces behind the recent desecration of the statue of Deyi Baidethi, mother of warrior twins Koti-Chennayya at Mupinadka. The yatra will also seek to bring pressure on the government to provide suitable protection to Hindu temples, daivasthanas that thieves have targeted with increasing regularity, of late said Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel.

The party had taken out a padayatra from Polali to Kateel when religious bigots had insulted the presiding deity of Sri Kshetra Kateel in the past. The padayatra from Puttur to Padumale is being held with the twin objective of seeking further probe in to the desecration of the statue of Deyi Baidethi and also to demand that the government give due protection to Hindu religious places of worship across the district, he said.

Sanjeeva Matandoor, president of district unit of BJP said while police have arrested a religious bigot in this connection, there is a clear attempt to hush up the case politically. “Police have not made headway into their investigation in to people who were with the youth when he desecrated the statue of Deyi and posted it on Facebook,” he said, adding this singular act has hurt feelings of a large section of Hindus and Hindu organisations’ have staged protests as well.

The Hindus have deified the warrior twins and their mother in the district and the state government has not taken any steps to assuage the hurt feelings of the community by going after others involved in this act. “There have been a series of such incidents in Dakshina Kannada district where bigots have hurt religious feelings of the Hindus, including online slur of Kateel Sri Durga Parameshwari. This situation is now compounded by theft in Hindu religious institutions,” he noted.

The government that promised Rs 5 crore for renovation of Ayurveda vana at Padumale has not released any funds for it thus far, he said adding district minister B Ramanath Rai who visited the place after desecration of the statue has now put a clamp on undertaking any further development there. “No one had an inkling of an ayurvedic medicinal plant garden being there till visited the place,” he said adding this shows the concern of the government for these Tuluva icons.