Senior Congress leader and former Minister Jayaprakash Hegde and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, speaking in Udupi and Padubidri respectively, hit out at the BJP for throwing the Indan culture and values to the winds while allowing the festival on the island.
“Where are the moral police of the BJP and Sangh Parivar, when vulgarism and obscenities are taking place in the name of promoting tourism?” Mr. Hegde asked.
Speaking at a public meeting organized by the Udupi unit of Youth Congress to protest against the use of drugs, free flow of alcohol and other obscenities at the festival at the St. Mary's Island from February 3 to 5, at Malpe here.
Mr. Hegde said that when college going students ate ice-cream together in an ice cream parlour they were beaten up by the moral police. When some students were drinking beer at a pub in Mangalore, they were attacked by the moral police a couple of years ago ”All kinds of immoral things are happening at St. Mary's Island, where are the moral police now? It is most likely they are dancing at the St. Mary's Island” , he ridiculed.
Mr. Hegde said that MLA Raghupati Bhat, who waxes eloquent on Indian culture, had stated that he did not know what was happening on the St. Mary's Island. If it was not known on the first day of the festival, it could have been stopped on the second day. But Mr. Bhat had inaugurated the festival propagating foreign culture.
“The talk of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sangh Parivar on patriotism and culture is only limited to words and not deeds. This is just the beginning in the St. Mary's Island and not the end. This obscene culture will spread its tentacles everywhere. One should be cautious about it,” he said.
“The district administration is saying that it would generate Rs. 5 lakh from the festival, it should tell us, where the rest of the money from this mega jamboree is going “, Mr. Hegde said.
Congress leaders Shyamala Bhandary, M.A. Gafoor, Yatish Karkera, Veronica Carnelio, Janardhan Bhandarkar, Amrit Shenoy, Prakyat Shetty and others were present.
'Hindutva exposed'
Meanwhile, speaking in Padubidri former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy said the unsavoury events during the Island Festival had exposed the true face of those who spoke of Hindutva at every given opportunity.
Replying to the queries of presspersons on media reports of use of drugs, free flow of alcohol and other obscenities at the festival on the St. Mary's Island, about six kilometers from Udupi, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that on one side BJP wanted to save the culture of the country. But on the other side, it was permitting rave parties and flow of drugs in the name of promoting tourism in the Coastal districts. “This is extremely shameful,” , he said.
He expressed surprise over Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda's support to the event in the name of promoting tourism. “If such obscenities and indecent tendencies crossed limits, it would create disharmony in the society,” he said.
In reply to a query, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the Janata Dal (Secular) would field a candidate for the expected by-poll for the Udupi-Chikmagalur parliamentary constituency.
Later Mr. Kumaraswamy inaugurated the Janata Dal (S) party workers meeting here. JD(S) leaders Deviprasad Shetty, Mahendra Kumar, Ghulam Mohammed, Shalini Shetty Kenchanur, Louis Lobo, were present at the meeting, which was also addressed by film star turned politician Pooja Gandhi.
Addressing Kannadiga delegates from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and other countries through a video conference, Dr Narayan also assured that necessary steps will be taken by the Karnataka government to provide free quarantine facility for those who cannot afford private quarantine in hotels or guest houses. The video conference was organised by coastaldigest.com.
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