Police in Udupi district of Karnataka have deployed security around a banner displaying a photo of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Subhash Chandra Bose with the words 'Jai Hindu Rashtra', installed in a prominent location in Udupi. The banner has the two statements in Kannada, “Jai Hindu Rashtra” on one side and the phrase “Freedom was not alms given by the British for non-violence” on the other side. The banner further reads, “On this 75th Independence day, let us remember the revolutionary leaders Veer Savarkar and Subhash Chandra Bose who defeated the British with a revolutionary struggle and freed the country from their misrule.”
The Udupi Town Municipality on Monday decided to deploy police officials at the location of the banner after a complaint by the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The police will be present at the location of the banner for the next 15 days as per a request by the municipality, a police official from Udupi said. As many as eight police officials were posted at the Brahmagiri Circle when TNM visited the location of the banner. The banner was installed at the Brahmagiri Circle on account of Independence Day and it says that it was installed by Pramod Ucchila, Shailesh Devadiga and Yogeesh Kuthpady. Police officials told TNM that Pramod belongs to the right wing organisation Hindu Mahasabha in Udupi.
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Police deployed at Brahmagiri Circle, Udupi
Though the SDPI filed a complaint against the banner and the Congress has called for a protest, the town municipality has decided to keep the banner at Brahmagiri circle and further provide protection to it. Speaking to TNM, the Municipality Commissioner Uday Kumar Shetty said, "There are no restrictions over putting up the banner and the applicants sought permission to put it up three days in advance."
The decision comes after a clash in the neighbouring Shivamogga district on Monday over Independence Day posters put up in the town. On August 15, Shivamogga district witnessed tension over a poster of Savarkar put up at the Ameer Ahmed circle. Four SDPI workers were arrested for stabbing a man named Prem Singh during a clash over the poster. In Dakshina Kannada, SDPI members were booked for disrupting a government event that displayed posters of Savarkar.
Banner at Brahmagiri Circle, Udupi
VD Savarkar was a Hindutva ideologue who wrote a book titled 'Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, which was originally published as Essentials of Hindutva. He has been criticised for not taking part in the Indian freedom struggle following his release from jail in 1924. He was also charged with conspiring in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, however, he was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.
A Karnataka government advertisement released on the occasion of Independence Day featured VD Savarkar prominently while ignoring the first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The advertisement, which was published in all prominent newspapers on August 14, had the pictures of many freedom fighters including Savarkar, who was featured prominently. Though they came under criticism for this move, the BJP was defiant about the advertisement. Chief Minister Bommai said that he bows his head to RSS ideals. “Someone said, Bommai has become an RSS slave, I want to tell that I bow down my head to its (RSS) ideals and principles and that patriotism. I'm committed to building the country on those ideals and principles and I'm proud of it," he said.