Days after the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award was renamed as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, controversy erupted in Karnataka over renaming Indira canteens in the state. Indira canteens, started by the previous Congress-led government under then chief minister Siddaramaiah offers low cost, ready-to-eat meals.
BK Hariprasad, Congress MLC and former MP, said Congress would blacken the boards of all those in the name of BJP leaders if Indira canteens are renamed. “If the name of Indira canteen is changed then we’ll blacken signboards of Savarkar Bridge, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Bridge. It is not right to change the name of Indira Canteen as she always worked for the poor,” Hariprasad said.
The controversy began when BJP national general secretary CT Ravi tweeted calling on newly sworn-in Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai to rename Indira canteens as Annapoorneshwari canteens, a day after Prime Minister Modi renamed Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. This turned into a Twitter spar after Siddaramaiah objected to it, calling it “petty politics”. The controversy resurfaced on Tuesday with Congress leaders taking offence to Ravi’s proposal.
“If Indira Gandhi is disrespected, we will have to answer in the same method too. Rajiv Gandhi too sacrificed his life for the country. Not right to have changed his name. They could have named some other big project in Dhyan Chand name. We have no objection. Why change existing ones? They named [Motera] stadium as Narendra Modi stadium. Is Modi a big player? Did he hit a century? Is he some big cricketer like Sachin Tendulkar? In the future, there won’t be BJP government here or anywhere,” said Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy.
“When we come to power, there will be a time when we change names that they have given today,” Reddy added.
The BJP had in its election manifesto in 2018 said it would rename Indira canteen but the present chief minister has remained tight-lipped despite Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike elections round the corner. His ministers, however, have hinted at what the party wants to do.
“Congress doesn’t have the moral right to speak about Savarkar. The government takes the decision whether to rename or not. They don’t have the authority to even say what name should be given and what not. When they were in power they named, now they are gone. They can rename when they come back to power. But they won’t. Now it’s the BJP government. What BJP must do is decide by the government. My personal opinion is, it’s natural names are changed when a government is in power,” said revenue minister R Ashok.
There were also discussions of shutting down the Indira canteens during the term of former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, which he later put to rest.
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