The BJP Government has brought ‘disgrace’ to Karnataka and the brand image of Bengaluru by “provoking communal sentiments” and sparking unrest in the society, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president M. Lakshmana has said.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he listed the hijab issue, eviction of Muslim traders from temple festivals, proposal to remove references to the 18th century ruler Tipu Sultan, introduction of Bhagavad Gita in school curriculum and presently the halal issue among the controversies stoked by the BJP in the State that had brought “shame” to Bengaluru and Karnataka.
He even referred to the tweets by Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who had tagged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, when she called for an end to such communal exclusion. “If ITBT became communal, it would destroy our global leadership”, Ms. Shaw warned.
Mr. Lakshmana said India had had already begun paying for the alleged communal exclusion at the global level by registering a dip in exports to Muslim countries. He claimed that India’s exports to United Arab Emirates (UAE) had already declined over the last one month and claimed that the same was due to the “communal exclusion” pursued by the BJP.
“It is a matter of concern. Though they have not made an official announcement, it has already begun as a response to the communal exclusion”, he claimed.
For the BJP, only elections and power mattered, Mr. Lakshmana said while accusing the saffron party of provoking communal sentiments to capture power.
With regard to Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Madhuswamy’s statement in the State Legislature that the law to disallow non-Hindus from carrying out business at temple festivals was brought in by the Congress during the tenure of S.M. Krishna at the helm in the State, Mr. Lakshmana said Section 12 of the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 2002 states that land of the temple should not be allowed for long-term lease and there was no bar preventing them from setting up temporary shops for 2-3 days during the jatres. Such rules are there even for land belonging to mosques and churches, he said.
Reacting to BJP’s national general secretary C.T. Ravi’s statement that halal was part “economic jihad”, Mr. Lakshmana claimed that the top ten beef exporters in India were supporters of the BJP and wondered by the BJP leader was not restraining the beef exporters from sending halal meat abroad.
He said the BJP was targeting Muslims by raising communally sensitive issues so that their failures including their inability to control the runaway trend in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG or provide jobs to the large number of unemployed youth were not highlighted.
“By raising such communal issues, the BJP is trying to keep the people engaged and forget about the real problems they are facing”, he said.
