Bangalore: BJP claims 'atrocities' against Hindus on the rise under Cong rule
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Oct 1: If the religious minority communities of Christians and Muslims, were the targets of attack during the previous BJP rule in the coastal region and other parts of Karnataka including Bangalore, the State BJP leaders have now alleged that the police ''atrocities” are on the rise against the majority Hindus after the Congress party came to power in the Sate.
State BJP General Secretary C T Ravi and BJP Spokesperson Ashwathanarayana, who addressed a news conference in Bangalore on Tuesday, claimed that the Home Department was targeting Hindu organisations and booking cases against them on false complaints.
The police have beaten up badly some youths in Laxmeshwara in Gadag district and Haldur in Chikmagalur district during immersion of Ganesha idols, and over distribution of shops to a particular community Sira in Tumkur, Ravi alleged.
The Congress government has adopted an appeasement policy to garner Muslim community votes during the next general elections, the BJP leaders alleged.
The BJP leaders claimed that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister K J George have given a free hand to the police take action against the majority Hindus.
The two BJP leaders said that high-level fact finding teams headed by former chief ministers D V Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar as well as former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa, who was also the State party president, along with other legislators would be visiting Laxmeshwara, Haldur and Sira to find the truth and to instill confidence in BJP workers shortly.
The State government cannot take the majority Hindus lightly and they would teach a lesson to Congress in the days ahead, they said.
The BJP leaders, however, did not answer whether the party was trying to polarize the political atmosphere by raising the bogey of majority Hindus versus minorities.
Ravi also condemned the attack on a Dalit activist by Congress workers at the Mandya rally on Monday where the Congress President Sonia Gandhi delivered speech.
The incident happened in front of KPCC President G Parameshwara, who himself belongs to the Dalit community.
''If the KPCC President cannot prevent beating up of a Dalit person, merely because the latter waved a black flag against anti-Dalit policies of the Centre, how can the Congress Government protect the interests of others?,” the BJP leader asked.
The State BJP also strongly condemned Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s letter asking all Chief Ministers to ensure that no innocent Muslim youth was wrongfully detained in terror cases and said it was against the spirit of the Constitution.
''Shinde is trying to divide the people and the nation on communal lines,” Ravi said and criticized the Union Home Minister for allegedly trying to disturb communal harmony in the country.
Ravi demanded that Shinde should be sacked with immediately and the letter written by him to the Chief Ministers should be withdrawn forthwith.