Pro-Kannada activist Arun Javgal on Saturday, October 1, walked out of an interaction with Rahul Gandhi after he was not allowed to field the questions he had come prepared with. The event, which took place as part of the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra near Nanjangud in Mysuru district, was an interactive session between the Congress leader and writers and artists. The organisers of the event said that the interaction was focused on hate politics, and that many other participants also did not get a chance to speak.
According to Arun Javgal, who is the state organisation secretary of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, he had been told that Rahul would be meeting artists and writers for 30 to 45 minutes, and they could ask him any questions. Arun said he was not informed that the session was specifically about hate politics. “Therefore, I prepared questions regarding federalism, Hindi imposition and the 2026 delimitation of constituencies. I had even communicated about this to the organisers beforehand. But I was not allowed to speak. Many others who had questions on administration could also not speak. Only those who were affected by hate politics got a chance to speak. I was not informed of any topic, therefore I focused on the area I am well versed with, of federalism and state politics,” Arun said.
Rahul Gandhi is presently in Karnataka on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a mass contact programme that involves padayatra or walkathon of Congress leaders and workers from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. The yatra will cover a distance of 511 km in Karnataka over 22 days. Several civil society organisations and individuals have expressed interest in taking part in the yatra as well as the interactions scheduled in each of the places Rahul Gandhi is visiting.
Commenting on the incident, Arun said, “I wanted to raise this issue (delimitation of parliament constituencies) because there have been talks of less representation from south India in the parliament in the coming years. If we don't have representation in the union, we will not have any say in policy making. However, we have been informed that Rahul Gandhi will definitely address these issues before the padayatra leaves Karnataka. So we have to wait and see if they are really interested in addressing these issues or only care about RSS-BJP,” he said. Arun also said that he walked out almost at the end of the interaction, when he became aware that he would not be able to field questions to Rahul Gandhi.
Former IAS officer Sasikanth Senthil, who is coordinating with civil society organisations on behalf of the Congress during the yatra, said they had only 20 minutes allocated for the interaction session. “The topic was ‘Artists and writers against hate politics’. I had informed the participants beforehand that everyone might not get the chance to speak. There were five to six women, so they were given precedence as they have been on the receiving end of hate on social media. There were many people who could not speak,” Senthil said.
Senthil also said that Arun had made considerable preparations and had some pointed questions on statehood, and that’s why he was upset over not being able to ask them. “Since there were many co-ordinators, it is also possible that Arun was not informed of the topic and hence the confusion. However, it goes without saying that we completely understand the importance of these issues and have spoken to him,” he explained.
Karnataka Congress spokesperson Lavanya Ballal denied that any politics were discussed in the interaction. She tweeted that none of the tribal people who met Rahul Gandhi had political affiliations, and none of the artists who took part in the interaction spoke about politics.
Not true. @ajavagal
— Lavanya Ballal (@LavanyaBallal) October 1, 2022
None of the tribals who met RG yesterday had any political affiliations.
The artists who met him today also did not speak about politics.
. @s_kanth has been given responsibility to ensure that the voiceless are heard, that exactly what is happening.