Former Karnataka deputy chief minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader KS Eshwarappa is a man who takes pride in his deep-rooted Hindutva ideology, is unabashedly anti-Muslim, and enjoys stoking controversies.
The leader made yet another controversial statement in the midst of hectic preparations for the Pran Pratishtha or consecration ceremony at Ram Temple in UP’s Ayodhya on January 22.
The former minister asked Muslims to vacate all mosques that he claims have been built after desecrating temples, or face dire consequences. He had earlier claimed that churches and mosques were built in Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath after demolishing temples.
“There are two more places, including Mathura, that are under consideration. The matter is in court, and when the verdict is delivered — whether it is today or tomorrow — we will construct temples wherever mosques have been built. My suggestion is that it would be advantageous for you (Muslims) to vacate voluntarily; otherwise, there may be repercussions,” he said.
“How many may get killed, we don’t know; we can’t predict what could happen. We don’t know,” Eshwarappa added while speaking at a Hindu workers’ convention in Belagavi.
This is not the first time Eshwarappa has made such provocative comments. Last year in May, the senior BJP leader claimed that 36,000 temples were destroyed across the country to build masjids. He said the Mughals had destroyed temples and built mosques over them.
“Let them build mosques elsewhere and offer namaz, but we will not tolerate them doing so in mosques built over our temples. I am telling you now, all the 36,000 temples will be reclaimed by Hindus using legal means — not one masjid will be standing,” he had said. This statement had come up when a Hindu temple-like structure was found underneath an old mosque in Malali on the outskirts of Mangaluru.
Eshwarappa is among the Karnataka BJP’s triumvirate, alongside BS Yediyurappa and the late former Union minister Ananth Kumar, who built the party from the grassroots level and opened its first-ever account in southern India.
Hailing from the Kuruba community, the same as Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Eshwarappa has been the state BJP chief since as far back as 1993 when the saffron party had just four MLAs in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The following year, the BJP saw a massive jump in support and won 40 seats. Eshwarappa was credited for that win.
He has served as a minister in every BJP government in Karnataka and was made the Deputy Chief Minister during Jagdish Shettar’s regime in 2008.
Feeling sidelined by the party, an upset Eshwarappa had floated his own ‘apolitical’ party, called the Sangliana Rajanna Brigade in 2017. It was only after Amit Shah’s intervention that he pulled back and dissolved the forum.
With a political career spanning over four decades, Eshwarappa was among the senior BJP MLAs who were asked not to contest in the May 2023 Assembly elections by the BJP high command. Aged 75, Eshwarappa had to fall in line and step aside as he had reached the unofficial age bar in the BJP for leaders to contest polls or hold offices in the party.
In April 2022, Eshwarappa resigned as the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister following the suicide of civil works contractor Santosh Patil, who had accused him of demanding 40% commission for road works in Belagavi. Despite being cleared by a police probe, Eshwarappa couldn’t convince the party high command to reinstate him, or even give him an election ticket.
Then in the Opposition, the Congress quickly made Eshwarappa a ‘poster boy of corruption’ and launched a campaign against the BJP, alleging its government demanded a 40% commission, and people were killing themselves due to the corrupt demands. The Congress built the ‘Pay CM’ campaign on this issue, successfully coming to power in Karnataka.
In the 2023 Karnataka elections, Eshwarappa again created controversy by stopping his speech when interrupted by the azaan from a nearby mosque. He criticised the high decibel used and questioned if “Allah was deaf”.
In another election speech in the run-up to the Karnataka polls, he expressed that the BJP didn’t want any Muslim votes in elections, labelling the Congress’s manifesto as one that aimed to appease the Muslim community.
Eshwarappa, who declared his commitment to making India a Hindu nation, warned Muslims to cooperate with Hindu festivals “if they are to live in Hindustan”.
“You (Muslims) are in Hindustan, and if you come between the Hindu festival of Ganesh, then you will all face problems. I am giving a warning. Why should I make an appeal? It is their duty to cooperate,” Eshwarappa had said.
He had led the funeral procession of Bajrang Dal worker Harsha, who was allegedly hacked to death by a local Muslim gang in February 2022. Despite police warnings, he took out the procession, resulting in a violent clash between communities in the communally sensitive district of Shivamogga.
In May, he also made a remark about the Tricolour being replaced by the saffron flag, drawing strong criticism from the Congress.
In September 2019, Eshwarappa controversially claimed that only “patriotic Muslims” voted for the BJP in the 2018 Assembly polls, labelling others who did not vote for the BJP as ‘pro-Pakistan’ and ‘anti-national’. He also said that the BJP did not give tickets for Muslims as the latter did not trust the party.
Having been elected from Shimoga as an MLA or an MLC since the 1990s, Eshwarappa claimed that in his constituency, which has around 8-10,000 Kuruba (his community) votes and over 50,000 Muslim voters, he has not once gone to a single Muslim seeking their vote.
“Despite that, I have won elections,” he said.
