Bengaluru MP’s bigotry on display

Tejasvi Surya.

On August 16 evening, vandals belonging to a Kannada organisation tore a Hindi banner displayed at the entrance of Ganesh Bagh, a Jain religious and cultural centre, located on Bhagwan Mahaveer Road in central Bengaluru. They were angry that the organisation had not displayed the banner in Kannada. The police responded swiftly, and the vandalism was suitably condemned. But Tejasvi Surya, the BJP MP from Bengaluru South, took the chance to take a swipe at Muslims.

In a tweet on August 18, he said: “Deeply hurt over attack on our Jain brothers in B'luru over हिन्दी (Hindi) on a banner of a temple by few rowdy elements. They however never question use of عربى (Arabic) in Bengaluru. Assaulting peaceful Jains who contribute to Karnataka brings infamy to genuine Kannada lovers & activists.”

Rather than condemning the vandalism by Kannada chauvinists unequivocally and leaving it at that, Surya provocatively drew in the usage of Arabic (and Muslims) into the debate in a prime example of BJP’s dog-whistle politics. This is not the first time that Surya has taken swipes at Muslims.

In a tweet on July 18, after the vandalism of a historical site in Hampi, Surya had tweeted: “Deeply hurt to know that 15th century Brundavana of Saint Vyasaraja Swamy, Rajaguru of Vijayanagara Emperor Krishnadevaraya—was desecrated & destroyed in Hampi. Such destruction happened 5 centuries ago by Bahamani Sultans!” Thus, in that one tweet, Surya compressed time and space to link the destruction of Hampi supposedly by Muslim kings to presumably contemporary Muslim vandals.

Ironically, the vandals in Hampi, whom the local police nabbed immediately, were five Hindu men. Surya, who at 28, has emerged as the poster boy for aggressive Hindutva in Bengaluru, is living up to his image by frequently resorting to dog-whistle politics.