Creative protests of Congress move into overdrive

Bengaluru: Never before on the floor of the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, has such a novel way of protesting happened. The Congress leaders wearing marigold flowers on their ears to indicate the lies being promoted in the budget of the Bommai government for 2023–2024.

When the budget discussion was half done, the legislators took out flowers from the pockets of their kurtas and pant pockets and started wearing them on their ears. It took the treasury benches by surprise and a perplexed look prevailed on their faces as even the CLP leader S Siddaramiah also wore it and smiled at those who were looking at him.

The KPCC president and MLA from Kanakapura DK Shivakumar also followed suit and within a few minutes, the marigold was seen by everybody's ears from the Congress party. JDS members also looked amused, but when they found out what was going on, they did regret that they should have taken the lead in this campaign.

What does it mean to wear a flower on the ears? An old adage is prevalent in coastal Karnataka in the Tulu language that goes to say 'Kibiku Poo Deepuna' (Put a flower on the ears) it symbolises, to put it mildly, to chide somebody who is trying to lie his way to glory!. How it reached the Karnataka assembly and manifested itself into the most novel way of protest only the minds behind the Congress party know!

But when they came out of the assembly hall the Congress MLAs did spell out their intentions and said 'this is how we protest a bunch of lies that has been embedded in the budget that Chief Minister Bommai belted out on the floor of the house!'

Later speaking to the media Shivakumar said that "what Bommai has spelt out in the budget is nothing but a big bag of lies, when he was not able to meet 90 per cent of the promises made in the 2022-2023 budget he has to add several more dozens of promises what else we can do but feel we are being fooled by him, so this is how we protested"

In a show of friendship, the former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa approached DK Shivakumar and with a wide grin on his face removed the flowers and handed it over to a Congress worker there, but swiftly Shivakumar put it back on his ears and walked off also with a rustic kind of a smile on his face.