Tabu Rao, wife of Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, plans to take BJP leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal to court over the derogatory remarks he made about her and her husband. 

On Saturday, April 6, the BJP MLA made a nasty comment referring to Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao as “half Pakistani,” presumably as Tabu belongs to a Muslim community.  

Speaking to the media outside the BJP office in Vijayapura, about the involvement of a BJP leader in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case, Yatnal said that the man owned a sim card shop and that he did not know who his customers were. Asked about Dinesh’s statement on the blast case, Yatnal said, “Pakistan is in Dinesh Gundu Rao’s house. His house is half-Pakistani.”

Responding to this on social media, Tabu said that the comment was “downright cheap, derogatory, and defamatory”. “I may be born a Muslim, but nobody can question my Indianness,” she said, asking if the Election Commission, BJP national president JP Nadda and the Prime Minister’s office would take any action against Yatnal.

She also said that she plans to file a complaint against Yatnal for his comment. According to some media reports, the Congress has already filed a complaint with the Seshadripuram police station.

The Model Code of Conduct prohibits criticism of any aspect of the private lives of politicians or workers from other parties which are not connected to their public lives. It also prohibits any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different caste and religious or linguistic communities. 

The National Investigation Agency, which is investigating the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case, issued a press release on Friday, April 5, cautioning against revealing the identities of “witnesses” after reports about the arrest of a BJP worker.

Read: Rameshwaram cafe blast: After report claims BJP worker held, NIA cautions against witness disclosure