Mangaluru: Congress leader and former minister Ramanath Rai led a protest in front of the DCC office in Mallikatta on May 18, against the controversial statement tweeted by Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel. They demanded that the MP be expelled from the BJP for his tweet about Nathuram Godse, the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.
Addressing the gathering, Rai said, “Mahatma Gandhi made India an independent country. He is repected across the world. Nalin Kumar Kateel should have thought about why people across the world respect the Mahatma. Pragya Thakur praised the man who shot Gandhi and the BJP has given a ticket to a person like her. The Prime Minister said that he would never forgive her for insulting Gandhi, yet he supports her.”
Calling Nalin Kumar Kateel’s tweets unforgivable, he said, “He can delete the tweets and apologize but that will not resolve the issue. This discourse has been going lower and lower. Kateel has insulted all those mighty individuals who made India independent by his statement. If our country wasn’t free, Kateel and Union minister Ananth Kumar Hegade would not have been Lok Sabha MPs and Modi would not have been Prime Minister of the country. The same people regard Godse as a patriot.”
MLC and Parliamentary Secretary Ivan D’Souzam, who was also present for the protest, said, “This is a serious issue. Unfortunately, the person who assassinated the father of the nation is being praised. Those who have appointed themselves as ‘chowkidars’ of the nation are the same people who are defending the assassin. Those who don’t believe in this country’s values can leave. We should be ashamed that Kateel has been the MP of this district for two terms. If the BJP truly respects Mahatma Gandhi, they should immediately expel Kateel from the party. Else, the public will expel the BJP from this country.”
