Bangalore, Jan 11 (Inditop.com) In offices, buses, homes, plush restaurants and at roadside eateries in Bangalore and other places in Karnataka, the talk on Monday was all about former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s “bloody b….” and a Kannada equivalent of “S.O.B.”.
For several months now people in Karnataka have been treated to low public discourse with epithets like ‘rascals’, ’emperor of lies’ and ‘mentally unsound’ freely hurled at one another by the leaders of three major political parties – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular.
But it was Gowda, the ‘mannina maga’ (son-of-the-soil, as he proudly refers to himself frequently), who touched the ebb Sunday when he went ballistic in English against Karnataka’s and south India’s first BJP Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa in lowering the public discourse.
Gowda later claimed he was not referring to Yeddyurappa but to state Advocate General Ashok Harnahalli. He, however, said he regrets if his comments had hurt Yeddyurappa.
Gowda uttered “bloody b…” twice and also used a Kannada equivalent of “son of a b…” responding to questions from reporters on Yeddyurappa’s comments on his protest against land acquisition for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor.
“We were used to these leaders calling each other a liar, corrupt, power hungry etc. Never expected it will degenerate to this level,” said K. Susheela, a doctor.
M. Nagaraja, an auto-driver, could not believe that Gowda had used invectives. “Did he really utter those words?” he asked as he had missed watching the episode on TV.
S.H. Kumar, owner of a small restaurant on the busy Kempegowda Road in city centre, said: “What is the big deal. That is what they call each other behind the back any way.”
Many rued missing Gowda in action during Sunday afternoon as they were busy watching India-Sri Lanka one-dayer played in Bangladesh.
“I thought that match would be exciting as it was crucial for India to win it to reach the tri-series final. After seeing morning papers, I realized there was more excitement back in Bangalore with Gowda’s show,” said V. Ramaswamy, a final year college student.
Gowda’s Sunday afternoon show had some entertaining moments as well. Apparently he was so angry he went on speaking in English when a Kannada TV channel called him over phone for further comments on the use of invectives.
Seeing Gowda in no mood to switch over to Kannada, the anchor reminded the former prime minister ‘Dayavittu Kannadalli mathanaadi (Please speak in Kannada).’
Late Sunday, Gowda promptly went to the studios of the Kannada channel for the damage control exercise. He profusely thanked the channel for giving him an opportunity to explain himself.
