The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : BJP targeting Muslims in rural areas: Iqbal Ansari

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Tuesday, Feb 03, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

BJP targeting Muslims in rural areas: Iqbal Ansari

S. Rajendran

‘It is more in Hyderabad-Karnatak area’

Bangalore: The former Labour Minister and senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader, Iqbal Ansari, has decided to take up the cause of Muslims in the State, particularly those residing in rural areas in the light of what he has termed the attempts being made by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to divide the people on communal lines at the village and taluk levels.

Mr. Ansari told The Hindu here on Monday that the eight months of rule by the BJP in the State had resulted in fear psychosis among the minorities since “they are being targeted. The minorities, particularly Muslims who are spread across the State are living in fear. Even for minor disputes at the local level, Muslims are being picked up by the police and harassed”.

On whether he was attempting to promote his party at the cost of another, the former Minister said the minorities in the rural areas were being singled out and kept out of people welfare schemes of the State Government. The problem was all the more in the districts of the Hyderabad-Karnatak region. The focus of the Government should be in enabling the minorities to get to the mainstream rather than alienate them. “Being a Janata Dal (S) leader, there is nothing if I say that Muslims should extend support to the leadership of the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy since they have been fighting for the cause of Muslims for a long time. It was during Mr. Deve Gowda’s regime that a 4 per cent reservation was ensured for Muslims in education and employment,” he said.

He added that the movement started by the Government to create awareness among the youth on terrorism and instil nationalism among them was a gimmick to promote the BJP ideology. The Government was incurring huge expenditure to promote the BJP ideology. The programme using the name of Swami Vivekananda and Subash Chandra Bose should be scrapped forthwith. If the Government is keen on continuing with the programme, then it should involve people from all communities, political parties and other walks of life. It cannot be a BJP or a Sangh Parivar-centric programme, he said.

Out of vote bank

Mr. Ansari said Muslims were being targeted by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar outfits since they believed that minorities were not part of their vote bank, and that Muslims favoured the Congress party. Such a thinking was rather unfortunate since minorities have been extending support to all political parties. The focus should be on educating the minorities rather than isolating them. “The ruling party here should know that Muslims are also citizens of the country and have a right to live in harmony with the others. There can be stray cases where some misguided youth have indulged in anti-national activities. On behalf of all minorities, I assert that we are one with the Union and the State Governments in putting down terrorism,” he said.

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