Bengaluru, Nov 4 (IANS): Karnataka BJP staged a state-wide protest condemning the state government’s move to issue notices to farmers across the state claiming the ownership of their land to the Waqf board and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Taking part in the protest organised in front of the K.R. Puram Tehshildar’s office in K.R. Puram locality of Bengaluru on Monday, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in assembly, R. Ashoka stated that the issue of notices to farmers by the Waqf board is an unforgivable act.
“The Congress government in 1975 is the main culprit behind the present situation. Siddaramaiah, if you want to defraud farmers by allowing notices to be issued to them and change their land records, who will believe you now,” said Ashoka.
He added that in Karnataka, terrorists and communal Muslims can have botherless sleep as they can’t be touched under the Congress rule.
“Karnataka has become safer than Pakistan for religious fanatics under the Congress government,” Ashoka alleged.
He added that Siddaramaiah claimed how he could give back his family’s sites initially and demanded Rs 64 crore compensation in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam, adding that later, he returned the allotted sites.
“How can people believe in you? Our struggle won’t stop. You are issuing false statements and lying on withdrawing notices. We will continue our agitation,” he said.
The protesters also raised slogans demanding Siddaramaiah’s resignation and exhibited posters saying ‘Siddaramaiah is turning Karnataka into a Pakistan’, and 'Karnataka Congress government is carrying out land jihad’ while also demanding the resignation of Minister for Waqf and Housing Zameer Ahmad Khan.
The BJP is holding a protest on Monday in Karnataka demanding the withdrawal of the 1974 Waqf property gazette notification and calling for an investigation by central agencies into the alleged misuse of authority by the government.
The party is seeking an investigation by the ED and CBI into the alleged creation of false records in the Karnataka Waqf Board for monetary gain.
BJP has said that the records created over the last 50 years were now being used for minority appeasement and vote-bank politics and has also demanded that all records created under this act be investigated by the CBI and ED.