Chaddis, the new protest prop in Karnataka’s Congress vs BJP row

In Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress are sparring over something rather unusual – the chaddi. Yes, knickers. What’s really going on? We take a look. How it started Congress was the first to poke the BJP. It started when the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students’ wing of the Congress, set an underwear on fire outside the house of Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh last week. The activists, who were protesting against the “saffronisation” of school textbooks, burned a pair of khaki knickers, alluding to the shorts associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological mentor. The saffron party lodged a complaint with the police, alleging that the NSUI workers were trying to bur down Nagesh’s house. This further enraged the party, which has now launched a “chaddi-burning campaign”. On Monday, Congress workers reportedly set khaki underwear ablaze in Karnataka’s Chitradurga and Chickmangaluru, according to a report on NDTV. The Congress’ take The party decided to scale the protest because of the police complaint following which 15 persons were arrested. “During a protest, we symbolically burnt one underwear… just one. But the police and government made it a big issue and said we are trying to burn the house… So let’s start a chaddi-burning campaign,” Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah said. “We will burn chaddis everywhere to protest against RSS,” he added. The comeback Responding to Siddaramaiah’s remark, BJP leader Mohan Krishna told India Today, “If it was a symbolic protest then why did the NSUI members carry ‘chaddis’ with them? Why did they not carry books?” The party, however, is not taking this lying down and is hitting back by launching its own drive to send underwear to Congress leaders in the state. In Mandya, workers collected a box full of underwear and reportedly sent it across to the Karnataka Congress office to protest against Siddaramaiah’s remarks.

“Siddaramaiah and Congress party’s chaddi is loose already. They have torn chaddi. So they have gone ahead to burn chaddi. Their chaddi was lost in UP. Siddaramaiah lost his chaddi and lungi in Chamundeshwari. To hit back, he’s trying to burn Sangh’s chaddi,” said Union minister Pralhad Joshi, according to India Today, as he spoke about Congress’ electoral losses. BJP leader Chalavadi Narayanswamy said that he had instructed district presidents to “help Siddarammiah by sending their chaddis” and then he went to speak about the pollution caused by the Congress campaign. “If Siddaramaiah wants to burn chaddis, let him burn inside his house… Firstly, I ask Siddaramaiah to seek permission from the pollution control board because burning chaddis causes air pollution. I never thought Siddaramaiah would stoop to this level,” he added. The OG chaddi campaign The rather bizarre row between the two political parties brings to mind the original chaddi campaign, which was started by Nisha Susan, a young journalist, against the Sri Ram Sene in February 2009. The protest was in response to the right-wing outfit’s call to ban the celebration of Valentine’s Day in Karnataka. On 14 February, a bagful of pink underwear was sent to the Sri Ram Sene’s office. Susan launched a Facebook group, the Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women. Earlier that month, Sri Ram Sene had attacked some young women in a pub in Mangalore. They claimed to defend Indian culture. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .