BENGALURU:
The Supreme Court's six-week deadline to the government to file its submission on the Datta Peeta-dargah dispute at Bababudangiri in Chikkamagaluru district ends on May 9. The BJP has demanded that the Siddaramaiah government act on the basis of material evidence and not by political compulsions. BJP MLA C T Ravi, who submitted a representation to the chief minister, told TOI that both Datta Peeta
and the dargah should be treated as separate structures. Excerpts from an interview:
What have you suggested in your representation to the chief minister? We have requested Siddaramaiah to treat both Datta Peeta and the dargah separately. In fact, revenue records clearly state the same. The distance between the two is 5-6 km by walk. We want the government to set up a fact-finding committee that will dig into old records and ascertain facts.
For the last two decades you have been demanding 'liberation' of the Datta Peeta shrine and have won electoral battles based on that. But now you seem to have dropped the word 'liberation' and are speaking of 'mutual existence'. We continue to remain aggressive in our fight; only the language and tone is different now. Earlier, we wanted the tomb to be removed from near Datta Peeta, now we want it to be given to the dargah. There is no change in our stand that Datta Peeta should be recognized as a place of Hindu worship.
There is an argument that Bababudangiri has been the symbol of Hindu-Muslim amity and that the Sangh Parivar keeps reigniting the issue for political gain. We ar e for communal harmony. But pseudo-secularists have been misleading all by defending encroachment of the shrine. The encroachments haven't been done by Hindus. This is precisely why we have been saying that the government should take a decision on the basis of revenue records, else admit that encroachment of the Hindu shrine is acceptable.
BJP under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah seem to have changed the party's template to being development-oriented. Where does the Datta Peeta issue figure in the changing political landscape? Development issues are important and we have never slipped on that front. I have undertaken many works in my constituency, but we cannot leave this issue behind. We are demanding justice, not any favour.
Why didn't the BJP try to end the deadlock when in power? We could not as the matter was in the Supreme Court. Now that the court has told the Siddaramaiah government to find a solution, it should be done.
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