BJP state general secretary and MLC N Ravikumar on August 15, said that the omission of Jawaharlal Nehru was intentional because India's first PM was the cause for India’s partition. The statement comes following a controversy over omission of Jawaharlal Nehru’s feature in the Karnataka government ad published in multiple newspapers across the state on August 14.
"Everyone in India abided by what Gandhi would say, but Nehru did not listen to him. Mahatma Gandhi had said that Congress should be dissolved after the country achieved Independence. He (Nehru) did not listen to Gandhiji and because he was the reason behind partition, he was intentionally left out of the ad,” Ravikumar said. He further accused former CM Siddaramaiah and President of the state Congress, DK Shivakumar of being puppets of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Ravikumar also blamed the Congress for glorifying Tipu Sultan who was "anti-Hindu," by putting up a poster at Bengaluru's Hudson Circle. The poster was vandalised by miscreants.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech at the Red Fort during the 76th Independence Day celebration, had praised Jawaharlal Nehru for his contribution to the nation. "Today is an opportunity to bow down in front of those who fought the war of independence and also built the country after independence, be it Nehruji, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Deendayal Upadhyay, Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Nanaji Deshmukh, Subramania Bharati," he said.
Even as the controversy raged, CM Basavaraj Bommai acknowledged Nehru's contribution to the freedom movement during his Independence Day address. "Innumerable people made sacrifices and laid down their lives in the struggle for freedom," he said. "The contributions of great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Bhagat Singh, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru and many others are etched in history."
CM Basavaraj Bommai praised Nehru's role in the struggle for independence in his Independence Day speech despite the ongoing controversy. "Many people gave up their lives and made sacrifices in the fight for freedom," he said. History is etched with the contributions of great individuals like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Bhagat Singh, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, and many others.
Later, Bommai criticised Congress for "making a hue and cry" on a state government advertisement. "Nehru and his contributions are still remembered. We hold him in the highest regard. His picture appears in the advertisement," he said referring to the sketch of freedom fighters also featured in the ad.