‘Instead of one body… ’: BJP MLA’s shocker on bringing Naveen’s remains from Ukraine

On bringing back Naveen’s body from Ukraine, Karnataka BJP MLA Arvind Bellad said: “...More space is needed to bring a dead body on the flight. In the place required for a dead body, eight persons could be accommodated and brought back.”

BENGALURU: Karnataka lawmaker Arvind Bellad ignited a row on Thursday over his response to a question on bringing back the remains of medical student Naveen SG, who was killed in shelling in Ukraine on March 1. Bellad said the government is making efforts but it was more difficult to bring back a body than people who are alive.

Bengaluru: A candle light march in Bengaluru on March 2 to pay homage to Naveen Shekharappa, a final year medical student, who died due to Russian shelling in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv (PTI)

“There is definitely an effort by the government… There is a war going on there. Amid that, an effort will be made and if possible, the body will be returned. Bringing those who are alive is difficult, so bringing a dead body back would be even more difficult. More space is needed to bring a dead body on the flight. In the place required for a dead body, eight persons could be accommodated and brought back,” Arvind Bellad, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA who represents Hubli-Dharwad West seat in north Karnataka, told reporters on Thursday.

Naveen, a fourth-year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University was killed on Tuesday when he stepped out of his apartment and went to a nearby supermarket to buy some provisions for himself and those bunked with him. Naveen is the only Indian casualty in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

Bellad’s comment comes against the backdrop of emotional appeals by the 21-year-old’s family to the government to bring home Naveen’s mortal remains. “We could not see our son alive, at least his body should be brought back at the earliest,” his mother told reporters in Haveri, about 300 kms from Bengaluru, on Wednesday.

Congress leaders condemned the MLA’s statement. “It is absolutely insensitive for the legislator to say this. It has become habitual for BJP MPs and MLAs to make such insensitive remarks,” said senior Congress leader Priyank Kharge.

BJP spokesperson Ganesh Karnik said that MLA made the statement in his personal capacity and it is not the party’s stand. “We won’t condemn it, because it is not the party’s stand and it is his personal opinion. Part our approach is to help the families of those affected by this war at their best. We are with the families. What he said is his stand,” Karnik said.

Naveen’s uncle Sadandand also responded. “It is important to bring back those who are alive. But the poor parents have lost their son. They could not see him alive but at least after he is dead, won’t they have the desire to see his body. Not that one has to be left out for another. If they (government) make up their mind, then both (dead and alive) can be brought back,” Sadandand told HT on Thursday.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has already declared that bringing back Naveen’s body was the top priority for the state government.

The MLA’s comments come days after Union minister Pralhad Joshi said that 90% of students going abroad to study medicine won’t clear Indian entrance examinations, raking up controversy with Opposition leaders condemning his statement at a time thousands of Indian students are stuck in war-torn Ukraine.

Joshi made the controversial comment in Belagavi on Monday, while briefing the media on the steps taken to evacuate students stranded in Ukraine. Answering a question on why so many students from Karnataka are studying abroad and whether the high course fee in the state is the reason for the migration of students, he said: “Those (students) who have returned (from Ukraine), 90% of them won’t clear the entrance examinations…”