Kuvempu’s ‘Shiva’ becomes ‘Yesu’ in poster… and MLA has no answer!
‘Secular’ Sowmya Reddy blocks post by RSS functionary Pradeep Mysuru reflecting twitterati anger
BENGALURU:
Intolerance of other people’s views can come in many shades, as experienced first-hand by state RSS media wing in-charge Pradeep Mysuru. His poser to Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy on the ‘amendment’ of a well-known stanza by poet laureate Kuvempu saw the latter blocking his post.
The controversy has its roots in a line from a Kannada poem penned by the legendary Dr KV Puttappa (‘Kuvempu’), which reads, ‘Barisu Kannada Dimdimava, O Karnataka Hrudaya Shiva’.
In connection with November’s ongoing Kannada Rajyotsava celebrations, Jayanagar-based ‘Om Kannada Mariyammana Karunada Sangha’ had organized a programme recently. It had used the poet laureate’s line in its poster but had replaced ‘Shiva’ with ‘Yesu’.
The poster carried a picture of chief guest Sowmya Reddy. Daughter of former Congresss minister Ramalinga Reddy, she is known to air her ‘secular’ leanings and had recently posted a picture during the Navaratri fest of herself offering ‘aarti’ to a photo showing Christ and a mosque alongside Ganesh.
Posts by twitterati who were offended by the ‘amendment’ to Kuvempu’s line went viral, following which Sowmya Reddy came out with a ‘clarification’.
ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ
— Pradeep Mysuru || ಪ್ರದೀಪ (@PradeepMysuru) November 24, 2020
ಬೆಳಗ್ಗಿನಿಂದ ಜನ ನಿಮ್ಮನ್ನು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಿರುವುದೇ ಬೇರೆಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ. ನೀವದಕ್ಕೆ ಉತ್ತರಿಸಿಲ್ಲ.
ಹಸುವಿನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪ್ರಬಂಧ ಬರೆಯಲು ಕೇಳಿದರೆ ನೀವು ಹಸುವನ್ನು ಕಟ್ಟಿದ ಕಂಬದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಬರೆದಿದ್ದೀರಿ. #ಜೈ_ಕನ್ನಡಾಂಬೆ
Pradeep Mysuru too questioned the MLA, tweeting cryptically, “You have provided a clarification but not yet answered the questions which are in the open. You were asked to write an essay on the cow, instead you have written an essay about the pole to which it was tied!”
Mysuru did get a response, but it was by way of the MLA blocking his tweet.
ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಗಳನ್ನು ಆಲಿಸುವುದು, ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು ಎದುರಾದಾಗ ಪಲಾಯನ ಮಾಡದೇ, ಬ್ಲಾಕ್ ಮಾಡದೇ ಉತ್ತರಿಸುವುದು @INCKarnataka @Sowmyareddyr ಯ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯವನ್ನು ಮೀರಿದ್ದು ಎಂಬುದು ಸಾಬೀತಾಗಿದೆ.
— Pradeep Mysuru || ಪ್ರದೀಪ (@PradeepMysuru) November 24, 2020
ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿರೋಧಿ ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಜಯಂತಿಯನ್ನು ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ಮೇಲೆ ಹೇರಿದ @siddaramaiah ಅವರ ಪಕ್ಷದಿಂದ ಇದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನದ್ದನ್ನು ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿಸಲಾಗದು. pic.twitter.com/AnFPcK53SE
The episode raises several questions. To begin with, the tweet by Mysuru was not derogatory by any stretch of the imagination, and was in fact a reflection of the offended sentiments of many twitterati over the ‘amendment’ to Kuvempu’s line.
To many observers, it also reflects on the ‘intolerance’ for other views of ‘secular’ parties like the Congress, a trait which many see as going back to the infamous Emergency of 1975. Some observers are also wondering whether it was the ‘RSS’ tag attached to Mysuru’s name which proved to be a red rag to the Jayanagar MLA.
Responding to the blocking of his earlier tweet by Sowmya Reddy, Mysuru tweeted again, “It has been proved that paying heed to opinions, answering without scooting and blocking, are beyond the capabilities of Congress’s Sowmya Reddy. What more can one expect from the party (Congress) under Siddaramaiah which had imposed on the people of Karnataka the Jayanti of Tipu Sultan…”
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