Karnataka Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi on Wednesday withdrew his controversial comment – on the origin of the word ‘Hindu’ and its ‘shameful’ meaning – and issued an apology. Jarikholi wrote to chief minister Basavaraj Bommai to tender his apology but also requested the state government form an ‘inquiry committee’ to establish his claim.
Also Read| BJP leader gives his own definition of ‘Hindu’ in row over Cong leader’s remarks
On Sunday Jarkiholi was speaking at an event in the Belagavi district when he said the word ‘Hindu’ is of Persian origin and had a ‘horrible, shameful’ meaning. His comment triggered a furious reaction from the ruling BJP and forced his party to distance itself from the remarks.
Translated (roughly) from Kannada, the letter to Bommai today said, “The word ‘Hindu’ comes from Persian… how did it come to India? In several articles I have written the meaning of the word is not fixed. I have also said there is a great need for this to be discussed publicly.”
“I based my speech on quoting Wikipedia, books, dictionaries, and writings of historians. Some vested interests are trying to portray me as anti-Hindu. There is a systematic conspiracy to harass and harm me. I request you to check all the above points and investigate those who created this disturbance without imposing the real situation,” he wrote.
“I request you to form an inquiry committee in this matter immediately. That one word that I spoke at the Manav Bhandutva Vodisha Mana, Gheka Badda, Basava, Ambedkar program held in Vipani is controversial. Also, since it is being distorted and slandered, I am withdrawing the statement I made that day with the good intention of not creating confusion in the public, and I am sorry if anyone has been hurt by that statement,” the letter concluded.
Jarkiholi’s U-turn comes a day after he doubled down on his remarks.
On Tuesday he insisted there was ‘nothing wrong’ in what he said.
“… there are hundreds of records about how the Persian word (Hindu) came. This has been mentioned in Swamy Dayanand Saraswati’s book ‘Satyartha Prakasha’, Dr GS Patil’s book ‘Basava Bharatha’ and Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s ‘Kesari’ newspaper as well…,” he said.
“Let everyone prove I’m wrong. If I am wrong, I’ll resign as MLA and not just apologise.”
(With agency inputs)
