Udupi: The members of the district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a protest at the Brahmagiri Circle on the way to the Congress Bhavan here recently against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s remarks against the BJP and RSS. The agitators were taken into preventive custody and later released.

Mattar Ratnakar Hegde, president, BJP district unit, said atleast 23 Hindutva activists had been murdered in the last four and a half years. This was mainly because the Siddaramaiah government withdrew cases against Popular Front of India, Social Democratic Party of India and Karnataka Forum for Dignity.

Despite the murder of the Hindutva activists, the government was hardly taking any action to bring those involved in these murders to justice. Instead Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was saying that there were terrorists in BJP and RSS. It was wrong on the part of the Chief Minister to making such unsubstantiated statements.

“The government is in favour of those persons who do not like to stand up when the national anthem or the national song are sung,” he said.

“When the BJP was demanding a ban on cow slaughter, Mr. Siddaramaiah was busy going around and saying that the food habits of people should not be questioned,” Mr. Hegde said.

Sheela K. Shetty, Vice President of Zilla Panchayat, demanded to know the Chief Minister was making such reckless statements against the BJP and RSS. Both these organisations had been serving the nation in a selfless manner. “Why is Mr. Siddaramaiah silent over the murder of Hindutva activists?” she questioned.