Modi garlanding Narayana Guru statue won’t help BJP win over Billavas, says Sorake

Prime Minister Narendra Modi garlanding the statue of social reformer Narayana Guru before starting his roadshow in Mangaluru on Sunday will not help the Bharatiya Janata Party to gain the trust of Billavas, said Vinay Kumar Sorake, president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee’s campaign committee in Mangaluru on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi garlanding the statue of social reformer Narayana Guru before starting his roadshow in Mangaluru on Sunday will not help the Bharatiya Janata Party to gain the trust of Billavas, said Vinay Kumar Sorake, president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee’s campaign committee in Mangaluru on Tuesday.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Sorake said people have not forgotten the way the Central government rejected the tableau of the Kerala government related to Narayana Guru for the Republic Day parade. People also remember the way the BJP government in the State had removed texts related to the reformer from the class 10 Social Science textbook.

“Coming now and garlanding the statue of Narayana Guru a few days before the Lok Sabha elections will not help in winning over Billavas,” Mr. Sorake said, and added: “The least the Prime Minister could have done is to govern on the one caste, one religion and one god philosophy’ of the reformer. Mr. Modi has failed to follow the ideals of Narayana Guru”.

On the reported lack of coordination of the Congress in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha constituencies among political parties that are part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, Mr. Sorake said in the two constituencies there is direct fight between the Congress and the BJP. “We are having coordination meetings with the INDIA alliance partners in the two constituencies,” he said.

There is no talks with the Social Democratic Party of India seeking their support for the Congress candidates, he said.

Asked about the Congress candidate from Dakshina Kannada constituency R. Padmaraj using ‘Poojary’ as a suffix to his name to show that he is a Billava, Mr. Sorake said: “He is a Billava and there is nothing wrong in using Poojary as the suffix”.

Dakshina Kannada district spokesperson of the BJP Arun G. Shet in a statement meanwhile criticised the Congress for using Mr. Modi’s gesture in saluting Narayana Guru for political purposes.