After Shivakumar, another Congress MLA praises RSS anthem ‘Namaste Sada Vatsale’

Days after Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar took everyone by surprise by singing the RSS anthem during a discussion in the assembly, another Congress MLA from the state heaped praise on the song.

 

Speaking to reporters at Kunigal in Tumakuru district, H.D. Ranganath crooned the opening lines of the song "Namaste Sada Vatsale", reported PTI news agency.

 

Ranganath called it a “very good song” and said he, too, heard it after Shivakumar sang it in the assembly.

 

"I read its meaning. It says we should salute the land where we are born. I see nothing wrong in that. Ours is a secular party, and we must accept good things from others,” he said.

 

The MLA, however, was quick to add that the right-wingers insist on creating divisions of caste and religion, and that their ideology can never match with that of the Congress.

 

“But what is wrong if someone sings a song from the RSS? I am only asking this question,” he said.

 

Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, sang the opening lines of the anthem during a discussion on the Chinnaswamy stadium stampede, which claimed the lives of 11 people.

 

Shivakumar's recital came when the BJP legislators accused him of being an abettor of the stampede as he created mass frenzy.

 

As the video of his act went viral, sparking speculations about his possible tilt towards the BJP, the deputy CM clarified that he is an ardent Congress man.

 

"I am a born Congressman, there is no question of joining hands with BJP-RSS," he said.

 

"I keep researching about the BJP and JDS as a political leader. Similarly, I have researched RSS too,” he further said.

India