The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in Karnataka is suffering from a severe backlash over dynasty politics after a party leader filed a case against a journalist for defaming HD Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.
The Bengaluru City Police have filed an FIR against the editor of Kannada daily-Vishwavani Vishweshwar Bhat for writing an article after the defeat of Nikhil Kumaraswamy in the Lok Sabha elections against independent candidate Sumalatha in Mandya.
Kumar's complaint alleged that the article about a heated argument between Nikhil and party supremo and his grandfather HD Devegowda was baseless as no such incident had taken place. It was meant to destroy the image of the party, wreck Nikhil's political career and extract money from them.
According to reports, the article written by Bhat is alleged to have derogatory remarks against Nikhil Kumaraswamy. The FIR was lodged after a complaint was filed by the general secretary of JD-S, Pradeep Kumar SP.
However, this incident has led to severe criticism of the state government and JD-S, which had earlier protested against the arrest of journalists in several cases. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has won the general elections, has also hit out at HD Kumaraswamy for filing a false FIR against a senior and reputed journalist by invoking non-bailable and cognisable sections.
The incident has outraged social media users who have spoken against the JD-S dynasty for its power politics, curtailing freedom of press and freedom of speech. The Twitterati have called this a state of "Emergency in Karnataka".
