Deve Gowda leads stir against CAA in his home turf
Mr Deve Gowda called upon regional parties to unite against the BJP and thus curb its influence across the country.
HASSAN: JD(S) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda on Saturday stepped out to participate in a protest rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in his home turf, with a call to all regional parties to join forces with the Congress against the BJP on controversial issues such as the CAA and NRC.
The protest rally was held at Idgah Maidan, in his home turf, Hassan, represented by the octogenarian for six consecutive terms before he migrated to Tumakuru Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 but was defeated by BJP candidate G.S. Basavaraju.
Maulana Naseer Rizwi, who organized the protest rally, told this newspaper that he invited Mr Gowda as the leader hails from Hassan district and has also occupied the post of Prime Minister.
Mr Gowda was flanked by Congress legislators Rizwan Arshad (Shivaji Nagar) and U.T. Khader (Dakshina Kannada) on the dais while hundreds of anti-CAA protesters drawn from JDS, Congress and as many 42 Muslims associations gathered at Idgah Maidan during the protest rally.
Mr Deve Gowda called upon regional parties to unite against the BJP and thus curb its influence across the country. “Peace and tranquillity can be established only when such elements are opposed,” Mr Gowda added.
Taking a dig at Union home minister Amit Shah, Mr Gowda rubbished the latter’s claim that ‘Hindu Rashtra’ would be established adding “India belongs to people of all religion.”