CT Ravi stokes controversy with remarks on Nehru, Indira

Bengaluru The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has courted controversy once again by proposing that the Congress open a (hookah) bar in the name of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru

Bengaluru The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has courted controversy once again by proposing that the Congress open a (hookah) bar in the name of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

MLA CT Ravi being offered sweet by BJP supporters after the party won in 12 out of 15 assembly constituencies of Karnataka, in Chikmagalur in 2019. (PTI)

CT Ravi, BJPs national general secretary and legislator from Chikmagalur on Thursday made the comments as an extension of his earlier demands to change the name of Indira canteens, eateries set up by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, to Annapurna canteens.

“Is that a five star hotel? To fill up their ATMs, they kept Indira Gandhi’s name, should we accept it? We oppose it because it was done for political reasons,” Ravi said.

“With Congress money, let them open an Indira canteen, Nehru bar, Nehru hookah bar in their office”, Ravi said in Bengaluru on Thursday.

The statements have triggered a war of words with the Congress hitting back at Ravi.

“CT Ravi was for a brief time the Kannada and culture minister. He is not just an MLA. He is a general secretary of a national party. He is reflecting his and the BJPs culture (with such statements) by smearing the names of Indira Gandhi, (Jawaharlal) Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi,” DK Shivakumar, the state Congress president said on Thursday.

Siddaramaiah, the Congress leader of the opposition, said that there are places and institutions named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, late Arun Jaitley, Deendayal Upadhyay, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee among others. “Open a hookah bar in their names,” Siddaramaiah said, adding, “He should not be loose with his words. Ravi is a national general secretary. He must know his responsibility.”