Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Mar 11: The Congress Party has been repeatedly claiming to be a purely secular party. Giving opportunities to sincere party workers an opportunity to go up the ladder is its stated policy. However, a look at the recently released list of the nominated members of Dakshina Kannada district Congress Committee (DCC) is baffling, to say the least. Rather than the sincerity or achievements of the workers, their castes have played the lead role in securing these people a seat in the DCC, as the list prepared by the DCC president Ramanath Rai, while bringing out the names of the DCC office bearers, shows

The names of the 13 members nominated to the DCC by Rai are as follows:

1. M G Hegde (Havyak Brahmin)
2. D R Kamat (G S B)
3. Pundalik Karkera (Mogaveera)
4. Narayan Kotian (Mogaveera)
5. Vinaykumar Soorinje (Shivalli Brahmin)
6. Santosh Kumar Shetty (Bunt)
7. Madhav Mave (Ganiga)
8. Vishwas Kumar Das (Ganiga)
9. Yousuf Khardar (Hanafi)
10. Farooq Ullal (Muslim)
11. Bharati (Kodava)
12. Purushotam Chitrapur (Billava)
13. Venkappa Gowda (Vokkaliga)

The list does not have representation for Christian, Jains, Kulal etc while two Mogaveeras and two Ganigas and a Kodava have been nominated. The Muslims have been divided into two categories, Muslim and Salafi, while Brahmins have been categorized as Havyak and Shivalli!

Although it is known fact that most of the parties give tickets or make ministers on the basis of castes and religions to appease all the sections, Rai has gone a step ahead and followed this norm even in the formation of the DCC. Moreover, he has mentioned the castes of the people concerned, against the respective names, officially admitting that the Congress gives prominence to caste and religious affiliations, despite claiming to be secular.