Work for Hindus Who Voted for Me, Not Muslims: BJP MLA Yatnal

Basangouda legislator S Patil Yatnal said elections were a war between Hindus and Muslims.

Karnataka BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal. 

(Photo: Facebook/ Basanagouda Patil Yatnal)

Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal has landed himself in a soup by making controversial remarks against the Muslim voters of his constituency.

A purported video of former Union minister instructing corporators to work only for Hindus, who have voted for him, and not for Muslims on Monday, 4 June, in Vijayapura has gone viral on social media, PTI reported.

“I had called all corporators and have told them that they should work for Hindus and not Muslims...who have voted for me in Bijapur,” Yatnal is purportedly heard saying in the video, to which the crowd responded by saying “Hindus”, the PTI report added.

"I had said no to Muslims initially... I had instructed my people that those with topi (cap) and burkha should not come and stand in my office or beside me," he allegedly claimed in the video.

He went onto question the media’s alleged silence on occasions when All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen President Asaduddin Owaisi spoke “against India”, the The New Indian Express reported.

"Why shouldn't one talk in favour of Hindus? Do we need only those who appease Muslims?" The Times of India quoted him as saying.

The lawmaker said elections were a “war between Hindus and Muslims”, reported The New Indian Express.

Yatnal has also served as an MP and a Union Minister of State in the Vajpayee government.

(With inputs from PTI , The New Indian Express and The Times of India)