A seemingly harmless act of relishing hot idli-vada brought from a local hotel during a visit to a dalit household has landed senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in a major controversy. The party leaders visited dalit houses during their statewide “Jan Samparka Yatre” (drought study tour).
BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa, who is leading the tour, now finds himself accused of practising “untouchability” after the ruling Congress and the JD(S) alleged that the BJP leaders had chosen to eat the hotel food instead of the meal cooked by the dalit family. However, the dalit families that hosted the saffron party leaders and party workers at Tumkur and Chitradurga have rushed to the rescue of their guests, stating “It is nobody's business to monitor what food we serve our guests”.
On May 18, senior BJP leaders embarked on a statewide tour, and as part of the itinerary and to promote “inclusiveness”, they had breakfast at a dalit household at Tumkur and the following day at Chitradurga. Based on some media reports, the Congress and the JD(S) mocked the BJP leaders for favouring “hotel food” at dalit households and accused them of practising untouchability. A complaint was also filed by a dalit youth from Mandya district against Yeddyurappa.
Earlier, KPCC chief G. Parameshwara had dubbed it as an “insult to dalits” and also alleged that Yeddyurappa, during his tenure as CM, had removed the portrait of Dr B.R. Ambedkar from his cabin. Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge alleged the BJP has exposed its “fondness for varna system.”
“Yeddyurappa's act goes against the philosophy of social reformer Basavaeshwara, who dreamt of a casteless society. He does not consider dalits as Hindus, though BJP makes tall claims of Hindu unity,” he further said.
However, the family which hosted the BJP leaders came to their defence and sought to clarify the situation. “We had prepared Kesari baat, Upma and Chitranna for 30 people. As the number of party workers were more, we had to order food from a hotel,” said Hanumantharayappa, one of the hosts at Tumkur.
Madhu Kumar, the host at Chitradurga, released a letter and video clip to the media. “We were happy to host Mr Yyeddyurappa. We offered breakfast prepared by us, but as there were many party workers, we also ordered food from a hotel. We are hurt by the controversy. I am a common man and not any party worker. Nobody should play politics,” he said in the letter.
Madhu Kumar also questioned the critics if they had ever fed a huge number of guests with home-made food. “We are capable of providing meals to any number of guests. But we are not chefs and we do not have servants at home, like in your households, to cook for us. Your comments have only hurt us. It is not important what the leaders ate, but where they ate. Five-star hotels might be your favourite, but visit to a dalit household is important for social change. I hope every leader understands this,” added Kumar.
Defending the BJP, senior leader and former law minister S. Suresh Kumar said, “Congress is at its old game of malicious campaigns against the BJP. What is principal in this matter is having a meal with members of the host family and not bothering about whether the food was prepared at home or bought from outside. The Congress has insulted the dalits by making baseless allegations. It shows the utter frustration of the Congress over the good response the BJP is getting from the dalit community.”
Govind Karjol, a senior dalit leader from the BJP, alleged that caste discrimination was prevalent in chief minister's own constituency and yet the Congress was falsely blaming the BJP.
