Minister defends ABVP's stir

Bangalore, Nov 13 (UNI) Strongly backing the closure call given by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) yesterday, demanding eviction of 3.5 crore Bangladeshis, Karnataka Primary Education Minister Visveswar Hegde Kageri today said it was done to wake up the UPA government at the Centre.

Majority of the schools and colleges throughout the state remained closed in the wake of the ABVP's bandh call.

Speaking to newspersons here, the Minister, who had slapped notices to the educational institutions run by Christians for closing down schools and colleges to protest the attack on Christians in Orissa recently, however, defended the action of the ABVP, the BJP's student wing organisation.

Stating that the ABVP's bandh call was 'necessary' at a time when the infiltration by Bangladeshi nationals was increasing, he said the closure was to draw the attention of the Union Government to take remedial action.

''The successful bandh call given by the ABVP, also intended to reflect the feelings of the Indian nationals,'' he claimed.

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