Bengaluru, Feb 21: Historian Ramachandra Guha on Thursday refuted Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai's claim that the latter had apologised for police allegedly manhandling him during an anti-CAA protest in the city, saying he received no such call or apology.
The writer further said even if such an apology had been offered, he would have rejected it.
"The Home Minister of Karnataka has claimed on the floor of the State Assembly that he apologised to me by phone for the manhandling by the Bengaluru police on 19th December 2019. This is false.
I received no such call or apology," Guha tweeted.
"Even if such an apology had been offered, I would have rejected it.
The imposition of Section 144 was illegal (as the Karnataka High Court has since held) and I was proud to be one of thousands of peaceful protesters who defied the States arbitrary action on that day," he said in another tweet.
During his reply to the debate on law and order situation in the state, Bommai on Wednesday claimed that he had apologised to Guha.
The minister was apologising to senior Congress MLA and former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar for police serving him notice and detaining him along with others at Mangaluru airport in December for trying to enter the city despite restrictions following violence there.
Stating that anti-CAA protests have taken place peacefully across the state, he had said, there might have been minor discrepancies, like that with historian Ramachandra Guha, being manhandled during a protest.
"I have called and apologised to him," he had said.
Guha was detained on December 19 for staging a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens at the Town Hall here, in defiance of the prohibitory orders imposed in the city.
He was taken away by police personnel and led to a police vehicle parked nearby.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said Bommai has committed a "perjury" in the House, and asked him to apologise to people and Guha in front of media.
"Bommai has committed a perjury on the floor of the House. It answers the question of where @BJP4India workers derive their motivation to spread fake news.
Bommai has insulted the people whom he represents," he tweeted and demanded that he apologize to people and Guha.
Comments
Creating all bogus claims
Useless MLA Fit for nothing. running his fathers dynasty..
Terrorist Poojari having terror links with rightwing terror groups cannot be ruled out. Today Siddaramayya admitted that RSS and BD memebers are terrorist. But sad part is that our judicial system could not able to ban them due to the monopoly of rightwing groups within the system. On the other hand Zakir Naik was framed under the strategy who was not proved yet guilty and become the target of communal govt merely for popularity who sheltering domestic terror groups. On one zide domestic terrorism on full swing but not banned and on the other side ZN banned for nothing. This is Indian communal Democracy.
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