Continuing the Hindutva line of attack on the governing Congress in the State, Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah on Wednesday accused it of pursuing “anti-Hindu” policies.
“Congress leaders in Karnataka are obsessed with appeasing a section of people for electoral gains. The vote-bank politics will lead to the Congress party’s debacle in the forthcoming Assembly elections,” he said at a rally organised at Holalkere in Chitradurga district as part of the BJP’s Parivartana Yatra.
Mr. Shah alleged that 23 activists of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar had been murdered in Karnataka by members of “anti-national organisations” in the last three years. Expressing displeasure that culprits responsible for these killings were still at large, he said the State government had failed to conduct a proper probe into these incidents and arrest the culprits.
Lashing out at the State government for withdrawing cases filed against the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), he alleged that for vote-bank gains, the Congress government had adopted soft stand towards organisations that promote religious fundamentalism.
‘Religious freedom curbed’
He alleged that religious freedom of Hindus was being curbed under the Congress rule, claiming that during Ganesh festival Hindus were asked to furnish bonds up to ₹10 lakh as surety when idols were installed in public places.
After kick-starting the yatra in Bengaluru on November 2, this is the second programme being held as part of the pre-poll campaign in the State in which Mr. Shah participated. Holalkere town was draped in saffron for the convention in which a large number of BJP activists from across Chitradurga, Davangere, and Ballari districts attended.
It was attended by Union Minister and party’s election in charge for Karnataka Prakash Javadekar, party’s national general secretary and in charge of Karnataka P. Muralidhara Rao, and president of the party’s State unit B.S. Yeddyurappa.
