Congress MLA Satish Jarkiholi Withdraws Statement On Origin Of 'Hindu' Word, Apologises

Satish Jarkiholi demanded that an inquiry committee be set up to find out those who tried to malign him as anti-Hindu.

Karnataka Congress Leader Satish Jarkiholi

New Delhi: Amid the protest in different parts of Karnataka by BJP, the state Congress working president Satish Jarkiholi on Wednesday wrote a letter to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and withdrew his statement on the origin of the term ‘Hindu’. He has also demanded that an inquiry committee be set up to find out those who tried to malign him as anti-Hindu, as reported by the news agency ANI.

KPCC Working President Satish Jarkiholi, in a letter to CM Basavaraj Bommai, withdraws & apologises for his statement. He also asks to constitute an investigating committee to find those who tried to defame him as anti-Hindu. https://t.co/Cfq17AjP5Y pic.twitter.com/9CBDBnxey0

— ANI (@ANI) November 9, 2022

Earlier, speaking in a program, he said that if you come to know the meaning of the word Hindu then you will be ashamed. He also said that "a word and a religion from elsewhere is being forcefully imposed on people here", and demanded that there should be a proper debate in this regard.

Jarkiholi said, "They speak about Hindu Dharm...this that, where did the Hindu word come from? Is it ours? It is Persian. Persian is from Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. What is Bharat's relationship with it? Then, how did Hindu become yours? There should be a debate on this."

Karnataka: Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi makes a controversial remark, says The word Hindu came from Persia. Why glorify it? pic.twitter.com/oNJxoea31v

— Pinky Rajpurohit (ABP News) 🇮🇳 (@Madrassan_Pinky) November 7, 2022

He said, "Look at 'Wikipedia', where this word (Hindu) comes from? It is not yours. Then why are you placing it at such a high position? If you understand its meaning, you will be ashamed. The meaning of the word Hindu, is very dirty. I'm not saying this, Swamiji has said this, it's on websites."

"A religion and a word from somewhere else is being forcefully imposed on us, there should be a debate on this," he further added.

The remarks made by Jarkiholi have attracted severe backlash and criticism from the Congress’s political opponents - the BJP - and social media users.