Karnataka Minister for Horticulture Munirathna has been booked for alleged hate speech against Christians at the Rajarajeshwari Nagar police station in Bengaluru, based on a complaint by officials of a flying squad. Among other responsibilities, flying squads act on violations of model code of conduct (MCC) ahead of elections. The complaint refers to a television interview in which Munirathna claimed that Christians were influencing people living in low-income neighbourhoods to convert to Christianity.
During the interview, Munirathna claimed that religious conversion was happening on a large scale in slums. He said, “Christians are converting people and it is maximum in the slums. If there are 1,400 people, 400 have been converted. If they come for conversion, then hit them and send them back or give a complaint at the police station.”
The complaint against the Rajarajeshwarinagar MLA was lodged by Manoj Kumar, team lead of the Election Flying Squad-11 of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), who stated that Munirathna's speech on March 31 disrupted communal harmony and dishonoured the Christian community. As a result, the RR Nagar police have registered a case against Munirathna under various sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
Munirathna, who is a film producer turned politician, has previously stirred controversy with his film studio, Vrushabhadri Productions, applying to register the movie title 'Uri Gowda Nanje Gowda', which promoted fictional characters as brave Vokkaliga soldiers who killed Tipu Sultan. This caused tension within the Vokkaliga community, and the move faced opposition from the community as well as Opposition parties who refuted this claim. However, after threats and opposition, Munirathna held a meeting with Adichunchanagiri seer Nirmalananda Swami, the religious head of the Vokkaliga community, and announced on March 20 that he had decided to shelve the project.