Bhagawan's book says no need to build Ram temple, irks Hindu rights groups

Mysuru: Right-wing organisations on Friday staged a demonstration against academician and author KS Bhagawan, accusing him of depicting Lord Ram in poor light in his book and making derogatory references. Bhagawan has time and again targeted Ram.

This time, in the Kannada book Rama Mandira Yeke Beda  (Why Ram temple is not required), he has claimed Ram was not a God and he suffered from weaknesses just as any other human being.

Bhagawan, who had courted controversy by making certain references to the Bhagavad Gita that are termed as "offensive" by right-wing outfits, has made unflattering observations about Ram's character in his book.

The author, however, defended his work, saying it was based on Valmiki's Ramayana.

Hindu activists staged a demonstration in front of his house in Mysuru on Friday and demanded his arrest.

BJP's Karnataka unit also targeted chief minister HD Kumaraswamy over his "silence" on the issue and demanded that Bhagawan be arrested immediately.

"Will @hd_kumaraswamy govt that arrested Journalist Santosh Thammaiah for speaking against fanatic Tippu also dare to arrest K S Bhagawan for abusing Lord Ram & his cheap statements on Hinduism. Why govt is protecting this offender by providing security instead of arresting?" the party tweeted.

State senior BJP leader and MLA S Suresh Kumar said in a Facebook post that the state government had two choices, "either it should jail Bhagawan or send him to mental hospital". 

A lawyer names Krishnamurthy approached Madikeri police station and filed a complaint against Bhagawan for "hurting Hindu sentiments".

Pejawar Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji too reacted to this and said that Bhagawan's statements must be ignored for he is only "trying to provoke anti-Hindu sentiments'.

Meanwhile, Kannada news channel journalist Ajit Hanamakkanavar received death threat from the operators of a Facebook page "Mangalore Muslims" for allegedly hurting their religious sentiments while debating on the book written by Bhagawan on Thursday.

The admin of the Facebook page threatened the journalist to seek apology within two days in a live programme or else he would be killed.

As the book snowballed into a big controversy, two Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) teams and Kuvempunagar police have been deployed around Bhagawan's house. The cops have asked him to avoid going to any place alone. They have also arrested BJP's Yuva Morcha president Nishant, who was leading the protest at Bhagawan's residence. 
Hanamakkanavar said he had decided to lodge a police complaint and seek protection. 

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