Siddaramaiah questions Bommai on omission of Pandit Nehru from govt I-Day advertisement

New Delhi: Congress leader Siddaramaiah questioned Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for ‘omitting’ the name of Jawaharlal Nehru from the list of freedom fighters published in a state advertisement to mark the Independence Day.

The Karnataka government released an advertisement through the state Information Department on Sunday highlighting the contributions of various freedom fighters in the Indian Independence movement. Siddaramaiah in a series of tweets expressed strong objection to the omission of Jawaharlal Nehru’s image in the advertisement. He also demanded an apology from the Karnataka CM.

“Insulting freedom fighter Jawaharlal Nehru in an advertisement made from common people’s taxes is intolerable. The Chief Minister should apologize to the people of the state for insulting Nehru,” said Siddaramaiah.

The advertisement with portraits of prominent freedom fighters was given to the media by the state government as part of the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign.

“Not including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the list of freedom fighters in govt ad shows how low a CM can go to save his chair,” said the Congress leader.

Siddaramaiah in a series of tweets expressed strong objection to the omission of Jawaharlal Nehru’s image in the advertisement.

“Remember that Nehru participated in the freedom struggle and spent nine years of his life in jail. Like your Savarkar, he was not a coward who pleaded (with) British officers to get himself released from jail. RSS is allergic to Nehru who opposed RSS communal politics and banned it after Gandhi’s assassination and dedicated his life to maintaining secularism. But, what is wrong with you Mr. Bommai?” Siddaramaiah asked.

“The truth of your family’s freedom struggle is that the only person you got to mention in the state government advertisement was Savarkar who begged the British for his release from jail. Why did you drop the picture of RSS founder Hedgewar who was jailed twice (1921 and 1931) for participating in the freedom struggle, Bommai, are they afraid that their true face will be exposed for rejecting the tricolour flag?,” the Congress leader asked.

“VD Savarkar was released from jail after pleading forgiveness from the British. But, Baba Saheb, who fought for freedom by being the voice of marginalized sections, gets placed in the last row,” he further said speaking about the government advertisement.

The Karnataka government advertisement features Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and Veer Savarkar among a list of 10 national freedom fighters and 10 freedom fighters from Karnataka.