Karnataka - Bangalore   

People urged to reject BJP

BANGALORE: Recalling the attacks on minorities and women in Karnataka, journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh has cautioned the people against supporting the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

Presiding over a seminar “Reject the anti-people BJP” organised by the People’s Forum for Democracy here on Sunday, Ms. Lankesh questioned the BJP’s contribution to the development of the State. “The BJP should be taught a lesson. We should ensure that not a single vote goes to the BJP and the party is taught a lesson”. The BJP Government is destroying the social fabric of the State, particularly in coastal Karnataka, where minorities and women are frequently attacked by activists of the BJP’s frontal organisations.

Apart from the attacks on churches and Christians, and targeting Muslims, the BJP Government was also responsible for the raid on the pub, where girls were thrashed, she said. BJP had already turned Karnataka into another Gujarat, she charged.

Referring to the killing of advocate Naushad Kashimji, Ms. Lankesh said there was a need to bring out the truth.

Earlier, the seminar was inaugurated by general secretary of the Popular Front of India K.M. Sharief, who said the present democratic set-up did not give a chance for the Dalits, minorities and the backward classes to have a voice in the Government.

For, the people belonging to these sections are unable to compete in the elections against the wealthy and the candidates who belonged to the politically strong castes. Progressive thinker Shivasundar said barely three crore out of the 23 crore Dalits as per the Census figures of 1991 were found to be literate and held less than 11 per cent of the jobs in the government despite reservation.

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