“I strongly condemn today’s incident. The parliament is our home, our God. No one should be doing such an act, be it my own son. I condemn it,” said Devaraj Gowda, father of Manoranjan, one of the four intruders who caused a serious security breach in parliament in Delhi on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in his home at Vijayanagara in Mysuru, Gowda said,”We belong to an agriculturist family and own a farm in Periyapatna near Mysuru. My son, an engineer who graduated in 2014, used to assist me in my farm. My son used to frequent to Delhi and Bengaluru. Four days back, he said he would be going to Bengaluru. He left home three days ago, saying he had some work and that he would call me once he is there.”
After the news of the Parliament incident flashed across the television channels, a huge crowd gathered outside Manoranjan’s house in Mysuru. A distraught father said he could not believe his son could have done anything bad.
“He is a good son, very cultured and holds good moral values. He is simple, wears old clothes, old chappals and rides an old scooter. He has never hurt anyone. You can ask anybody in this locality about him. But I strongly condemn what has happened today,” said Gowda, also sharing Manoranjan’s admiration for Swami Vivekananda.
“My son is an ardent follower of Swami Vivekananda. No one has perhaps read as many history books on Vivekananda as my son. He used to travel to different places for any celebration related to Vivekananda. He spent huge money – Rs 5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 only on books. He has no desire for any materialistic wealth. He was keen to organise people and do good for the country, work for the poor and the farmers. We used to tell him not to get into all this. But he used to tell me he only wants to do good for the society. Now, what am I to do if this is the ‘good thing’ he wanted to do?,” said Gowda.
He also denied his son had any political affiliation.
“He has no political affiliation and does not worry about Congress, BJP or JDS. Whenever I asked him to marry, saying he was 35 years or get himself a job, he would tell me there was still time for all that and he wanted to do good for the society,” confided the father.
Asked if he found anything suspicious about his son, Gowda defended his son saying, “He is a very good son. My son is gold. I am telling you he has no vices, he neither smokes nor drinks and never talks to people rudely. I don’t know the motive behind his act today. I used to tell him I had enough to lead a comfortable life and he should work on our farm and lead a relaxed life.”
