Karnataka woman BJP MP gets threat calls from ‘jehadis’ in Gulf

Karnataka BJP's firebrand Lok Sabha member Shobha Karandlaje alleged that some "jehadi" elements have been making threatening calls to her from the Gulf region of late, a party official said on Tuesday.

"She [Karandlaje] has been getting many unknown calls through the internet on her phones, mostly from Gulf countries like Dubai and Muscat, giving her death threats for unspecified reasons," Karandlaje's spokesman D. Abhishek told IANS.

The threat calls increased after May 3 when she wrote a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking action against an Indian Muslim in Kuwait for allegedly attacking an Indian taxi driver in the Gulf country for "praising" Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his leadership.

"Though she is not worried about the threat calls, as she does not follow the language in which they speak (Urdu or Arabic), she has complained to the police in the state and New Delhi along with the voice calls to investigate who have been calling her from abroad," Abhishek said.

A former state minister in the previous BJP government in the southern state (2008-13), Karandlaje is a two-time lawmaker from the Udupi-Chickmangalur parliamentary seat on the state's west coast.

"As Shobha has been busy with the development woks in her constituency and taking care of her people during the lockdown in force since March 25 to contain the coronavirus spread, the police are investigating the case," said Abishek.

"Action should be taken against the accused Muslim (Asi Chullikkara) from Rajapuram of Kasargode in north coastal Kerala for attacking, slapping and humiliating a Hindu driver Sri Praveen in Kuwait recently for praising Modi and posting it on his social media platform Facebook," Karandlaje had asserted in her letter.

The accused had forced Praveen, a native of Kerala, was also made to apologize for lauding Modi.

"The accused also pressured Praveen to admit that any post appreciating Modi is an insult to the Muslim community. A video of the incident has gone viral," said Karandlaje in her letter to Shah.

Terming the attack outrageous, the Chikmagalur constituency member said the accused had to be punished for his act.

"We must mount pressure on the authorities in Kuwait to extradite Chullikkara and brought to India for trial," asserted Karandlaje in the letter..