Congress aggravating religious divide in Karnataka: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Rajya Sabha MP and NDA representative Rajeev Chandrasekhar has charged with the ruling Congress in Karnataka with playing 'catastrophic divisive politics' as they do not have anything to boast of on development.

One example of this was the recent Police communique directing withdrawal of cases registered against "innocent minorities" on charges of rioting among others, which, he said, 'exposes the Siddaramaiah government's policy of appeasement.' "This is a clear attempt of appeasement at the cost of security to people and overall national security," he said.

Moreover, this was not just a bid by Congress to ensure their vote bank was safe, but also one to 'aggravate' religious divide in Karnataka, he told PTI. The state government had later amended the words to 'innocent people' and clarified that the comminique referred to all minorities.

"Moreover the government's Tipu Jayanti celebrations saw communal tensions in Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada," Chandrasekhar said, referring to the state-wide protests against it on November last year.He said another example of the state government playing divisive politics was on the separate religious status for Lingayats, "which they have been stoking ahead of the coming assembly election, purely to divide Lingayats for electoral gains."

The demand for a separate religion tag to Veerashaiva/ Lingayat faiths has surfaced from the numerically strong and politically-influential community, amidst resentment from within over projecting the two communities as the same.

While one section has demanded separate religion status, asserting that Veerashaiva and Lingayats are the same, the other group wants it only for Lingayats as they believe that Veerashaivais one among the seven sects of Shaivas, which is part of Hinduism.

Targetting the Congress government, Chandrasekhar said that instead of ensuring citizen-centric governance, it has the knack of approving 'flashy' expensive projects like the steel flyover and pod taxi, "which serves no purpose." He alleged that the sole purpose of the government in announcing Rs 2,491 crore worth projects for Bengaluru was a ploy to mislead citizens ahead of the coming assembly polls. Chandrasekhar said Bengaluru has become a city exploited by Congress and added that a cabal of builders and contractors were deciding where public money was going to be spent and citizens have no say in it.

OneIndia News