A delegation of BJP leaders led by MLA and former Karnataka deputy chief minister C N Ashwathnarayan filed a complaint at Bengaluru’s Upparpet police station on Wednesday about a Facebook post that allegedly depicted party representatives in a poor light. They demanded that the police immediately take down the post and initiate strict action against those responsible.
In the complaint, the BJP has alleged that vested interests created and circulated the post following the Dharmasthala Chalo rally organised by the party in the temple town on Monday.
Speaking to reporters after filing the complaint, Ashwathnarayan said the police had not taken any action despite the offensive nature of the post. “We demand that the objectionable content be withdrawn immediately and those who posted it be arrested,” he said.
Ashwathnarayan said the BJP’s campaign on the Dharmasthala issue was not political but a matter of faith. “Sanatana Dharma is under attack from certain forces. As Hindus, it is our duty to protect our dharma. We will not tolerate any insult or attempt to denigrate Lord Manjunatha Swamy,” he said.
The BJP leader also supported the call for reinvestigating the 2012 rape and murder of a college girl in Dakshina Kannada district. “We visited her residence to extend our solidarity,” he said, adding that the party’s state president, B Y Vijayendra, had assured that the BJP stands firmly with the girl’s mother.
Vijayendra faced trolling on social media platforms after videos of his interaction with the girl’s mother went viral. BJP leaders are seen in the videos shooing away reporters when the woman alleged that some influential people were behind her daughter’s rape and murder.
Following the rally, the BJP has come under fire from a section of social media users who accuse the party of siding with the alleged perpetrators of crime at Dharmasthala rather than seeking justice for the victims.
The BJP held the rally in protest against an alleged conspiracy to defame Dharmasthala in the wake of the claims that the bodies of several victims of sexual assault and murder were secretly buried in the temple town between 1998 and 2014.