Mahesh Shetty Timarodi, former president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Belthangady visited the deceased Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha Praveen Nettaru’s family of Dakshina Kannada district and took moral responsibility for Nettaru’s murder saying they are the ones who began all this in the name of Hindutva.
Condemning the hate politics mobilized by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the help of Hindutva organisations, he said, “We are on the wrong side today. Why? Because we are the ones who began all these in the name of Hindutva.“
“We have said this several times, ‘Don’t go behind politics but the youth don’t listen,” Timarodi said while consoling a senior member of the family. “After looking at these people’s fate, we have left these things. Or else we would have been dead (by) now.”
The former VHP leader also said that they may be attacked if they speak anything against right-wing groups. “Not them (Muslims), but these BJP people will attack us. Their leaders will attack us,” he said.
He further said that it is the BJP workers who deserve to be beaten and not others.
Praveen Nettaru, 32, an active member of the BJPYM and RSS, was killed on 26 July. The police have arrested eight persons so far in connection with the same. Mohammed Fazil, a Muslim youth was hacked to death last week in revenge for Nettaru’s death.
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Rabia Shireen is a Staff Reporter at The Cognate.