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Rumblings of criticism about the alleged Dharmasthala mass burials investigation have begun to surface within the Congress. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister Dinesh Gundu Rao have questioned the intentions of those making the allegations, while Home Minister G Parameshwara has been cautious in his remarks.
The Congress ministers’ remarks come amid growing criticism from the BJP as well as devotees of the Dharmasthala temple about the allegations made by a former sanitation worker about mass burials in Dharmasthala.
DK Shivakumar called the allegations, that a former sanitation worker had secretly buried many bodies secretly in Dharmasthala at the behest of a temple administration, a “conspiracy”.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the ongoing Assembly session on Thursday, August 14, Shivakumar said, “I won’t say who is behind it, but this is a well-planned strategy to taint (the temple). They are out to spoil a tradition that is hundreds of years old. That masked-man has given a statement in court. We discussed this in our Congress Legislature Party... (It was discussed that) we should examine those who are misguiding and spreading slander, and take legal action. The CM also said that impartial action would be taken. The Home Minister has also said that he knows the details of the whole case. We know what is there… It’s an empty trunk.”
However, it was Dinesh Gundu Rao who set the ball rolling. He told the media on August 13, that the intentions of the former sanitation worker should be investigated. “He made it sound like (it was a huge thing), I think the government must investigate this,” he told the media.
On the demand for an interim report on the allegations, Home Minister G Parameshwara said on August 14, that the government would consider it. “We will keep this in mind. We will take a call on whether to end the investigation here, depending on developments over the next few days. Why are they so interested in this all of a sudden? No one was bothered about this issue in the beginning? Now, suddenly they are interested. We will keep this too in mind.”
On the discovery of only a few bodies at the sites, Parameshwara said, “We don’t know why that is.” To a question, he said that he could not make a decision on the whistleblower’s claims as he did not know what the man had said. “We will leave it to the SIT to decide when to stop the investigation. Sitting here, not knowing (all the details) I cannot make a decision. If the SIT has any doubts (about the man’s claims), they will decide to stop.” He also said that the SIT would decide on whether or not a narcoanalysis test would be required.
He also said that the investigation would progress at its pace. “We have not fixed a deadline, that it should be done within 15 days or one month. When something is found, it will be examined as they (those making allegations) had demanded. If by chance we had not carried out the digging, they would have accused us of inaction.”
BJP demands second SIT
BJP MLAs, who had raised the issue in the Assembly on August 13 as well, however, upped the ante in the house on August 14.
Karkala MLA V Sunil Kumar accused the Congress party of having an agenda. “Is it your party’s agenda to spread slander about Dharmasthala temple? Is this being done on the directions of your party’s high command? Is it your INDIA coalition’s agenda?”
He said that people in Kerala and the SDPI were talking about the issue. He demanded that the whistleblower be subjected to a narcoanalysis test. He further claimed that money was coming in from abroad to fund the people behind the allegations.
“Which organisations are behind this? Who are the people behind this? We need an SIT 2 to investigate this. You can’t just end things with one SIT. The SIT is not for digging ditches. Where does the masked man go after spending 2-3 hours with the SIT? Who is he in contact with? All this must be investigated,” Sunil Kumar said in the Assembly.
On August 13, Opposition R Ashoka went so far as to demand that the identity of the man be revealed.
Home Minister G Parameshwara had replied briefly to the BJP leaders’ remarks in the house, and said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was still investigating and that he would speak after it submitted a report.