Jesus Christ was born in Vatican: Karnataka BJP leader

Reuters photo

Jesus Christ was born in the Vatican, according to Karnataka Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa, who tweeted this to criticize the construction of a Jesus Christ statue in the Harobele village, about 80 km from Bengaluru.

Congress leader DK Shivakumar is sponsoring the construction of the 114-foot statue of Jesus Christ in his native Kanakapura constituency. Shivakumar has bought from his own money, ten acres of land for the trust that is constructing the statue near Kapalibetta in the Harobele village, which is predominantly a Christian locality. The proposed statue will be 101-foot tall and will stand on a 13-foot pedestal.

“To impress their leader, those in the Congress, who opposed the construction of a temple dedicated to Lord Rama born in our holy country, are going to build from their own money a statue of Jesus who was born in the Vatican,” Eshwarappa said in the tweet.

Since at least the 2nd century AD, people have believed that the place where the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, now stands is where Jesus was born, according to Unesco that has listed it as a World Heritage site. The Vatican is seen as the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and is the place of residence of the Pope.

Eshwarappa also quipped that the statue will help Shivakumar become the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, “Even Siddaramaiah can’t stop this now,” he said, referring to the rivalry between Shivakumar and the former chief minister.

Firebrand Uttara Kannada MP Anantkumar Hegde, too, hit out at Shivakumar. “Here’s the Tihar Returned great man who, for the sake of a position, is seeking to please the Italian woman by setting up a huge Jesus statue, thus displaying his gallantry. It won’t be a surprise if more slaves within the Congress compete with each other to do appeasement politics,” Hegde said in a tweet.

The former Union minister also asked Congress leaders to quit the party. “The Italian woman gives importance to only those who have converted to Christianity. Congress leaders should, at least now, introspect and reject the mindset of slavery in their party and come out,” Hegde said.

Responding to these attacks, Shivakumar said he believed in “equality and religious tolerance.” He said it was his duty to respect the faith of his constituents, who belong to all religions.

Shivakumar listed out other initiatives that were taken up when he was in power, such as the formation of the Kempegowda Authority for which five acres of land in Bengaluru was sanctioned, declaration of a government holiday for Kempegowda Jayanti, sanctioning of Rs 25 crore each for the development of Adichunchanagiri pontiff (late) Balagangadharanatha Swami’s village Banandooru and Siddaganga Mutt pontiff (late) Shivakumara Swami’s village Magadi.