Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, May 6, said that people like Prajwal Revanna, who has been accused of sexually abusing several women, “should not be spared”. Prajwal, who has been suspended from Janata Dal (Secular), is the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. He is an MP from Hassan constituency and a candidate in the ongoing elections.
“He should be given the harshest punishment. All legal channels should be optimally used to punish him,” Modi said in an interview with Times Now.
Modi also blamed the Congress government, saying that the crime took place under their rule. “The 2,000, 3,000 or 5,000 videos or whatever… did not take place in one day. It means the crime happened when the Congress was in the government in alliance with the JD(S).”
Prajwal Revanna had allegedly shot nearly 3,000 videos of various women. These videos have been circulating on pen drives in Hassan district. Some of the videos are now being shared on social media as well, with the faces of victims unblurred.
Ever since the videos surfaced, the Congress and the BJP have been blaming each other, and the Prime Minister has added to the din and played loose with the timeline of events.
It is to be noted that after the Assembly elections in Karnataka in 2018, the Congress and JD(S) entered into an alliance and formed the government with JD(S) chief HD Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister. In July 2019, the BJP formed the government with Yediyurappa becoming the CM, after a host of Congress and JD(S) MLAs defected to BJP, and the alliance broke down. The BJP was in power from July 2019 till May 2023, till the Assembly election results swung Congress into power again.
Of the two complaints of sexual assault lodged against Prajwal and his father, Revanna, the time of the incident in one complaint is 2019, while the time of the incident in another complaint is 2021, when BJP was in power.
Modi claimed that the Congress had collected all these videos when they were in power and leaked them only after the Vokkaliga community had completed their voting. “Even during the election, the videos being released after a particular community's (Vokkaliga) voting was completely over. Moreover, leaking the videos after sending him abroad is very suspicious,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said that if the Congress government had information about the crime, they should have kept vigilance in the airport or informed the Indian government. “This means that this is their political game, and they know that these videos were recorded during their government.”
He said that no accused should be spared and this ‘game’ should end in the country. He said that the Union government would bring him back and give him the harshest punishment.
The BJP recently gave a ticket to sexual abuse-accused Brij Bhushan Singh’s son, Karan. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended the move, claiming that Brij Bhushan had not been convicted and therefore there was no problem in giving a ticket to his son.
The BJP and JD (S) have formed an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections. The alliance was formed in September last year. It must be noted that on December 8, 2023, BJP leader Deveraje Gowda wrote a letter to BJP state president BY Vijayendra warning against nominating Prajwal as the NDA candidate. Deveraje Gowda was aware of the crimes committed by Prajwal. On the same day, he also wrote a letter to BL Santhosh, senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Pracharak and the national general secretary (org) of BJP.
“If we align with the JD(S) and if we nominate a JD(S) candidate in Hassan for the Lok Sabha elections, these videos can be used as a brahmastra and we will be tainted as a party that aligned with the family of a rapist. It will be a big blow to the image of our party nationally,” Devaraje Gowda said in the letter and urged Vijayendra to bring this information to the attention of national leaders and convince them not to align with HD Revanna’s family in Hassan district. Vijayendra however said that he was not aware of any such letter.
Watch: Wasn’t aware of letter on Prajwal Revanna videos: Vijayendra to TNM
The Karnataka government has formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the allegations against Prajwal Revanna and his father HD Revanna. The police have issued a lookout notice to Prajwal who has left for Germany. The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that the accused travelled on a diplomatic passport without a political clearance.
Meanwhile, the police have arrested HD Revanna on charges of sexual harassment and kidnapping.