Former Karnataka minister and working president of the Congress Satish Jarkiholi found embroiled in a new scandal on Monday. He is well known for speaking his thoughts. The 60-year-old said that the word “Hindu” had Persian roots and that the word’s original connotation was not a nice one. In Karnataka even the Congress quickly distanced themselves from Jarkiholi’s comments.
Based on all accounts, the sugar baron hails from Belagavi district in north Karnataka. In addition he is the leader of the Scheduled Tribe Valmiki Nayak community. He is also the second of five Jarkiholi brothers, four of whom are involved in politics across parties. He is an unusual politician and businessman for not enabling his interests to quarrel with his “rationalist” beliefs.
Siddaramaiah to introduce a Karnataka anti-superstition Bill
In an effort to eliminate superstition over cemeteries, Jarkiholi dined and spent the night in a cemetery in Belagavi city. He was the excise minister in a Congress administration that had been in power for just over a year. At the time, Jarkiholi and his allies pushed Congress administration of Siddaramaiah to introduce a Karnataka anti-superstition Bill. They decided to spend the night in the cemetery on B. R. Ambedkar’s passing anniversary. The soft-spoken Congress leader at the time added, as always succinct and to the point and not given to public outbursts, “I want to dispel misconceptions that surround graveyards and the terror associated to them and show that they are tranquil places.
Everyone believed that he left the ministry in 2015. Because he had issues with the Siddaramaiah administration’s inaction on the anti-superstition Bill. Despite his longstanding friendship with Siddaramaiah—the two were companions in the JD(S) until the latter defected to the Karnataka Congress leader Satish—Jarkiholi initiated the action. His departure from the ministry in 2015 is widely thought to have caused by issues such as the Siddaramaiah administration’s delay on the anti-superstition Bill. Despite his close connection with Siddaramaiah, he worked alongside in the JD(S) until the latter switched to the Congress, Jarkiholi the one who took the initiative.
