The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Stop attacking Muslims, Jaffer Sharief tells BJP

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Tuesday, Apr 07, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Stop attacking Muslims, Jaffer Sharief tells BJP

Special Correspondent

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— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Jaffer Sharief addressing a press conference in Bangalore on Monday.

BANGALORE: Former Railway Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief on Monday said that Hindus could not be united on communal lines and that the Bharatiya Janata Party should give up its policy of attacking Muslims to seek votes from the majority community.

The senior Congress leader was speaking at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Bangalore Reporters’ Guild and the Press Club of Bangalore. He said that leaders such as Nitish Kumar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Lalu Prasad and N. Chandrababu Naidu had been garnering Hindu votes without appealing to Hindu sentiments. Similarly, Muslims were voting for secular parties, he added.

Mr. Sharief, who is contesting from the Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency, said that the BJP should realise this truth, and if the party worked for secularism it would be good for it as well as the country. Though he was a Muslim, Mr. Sharief said he visited the Shani Temple at Tirunallar and Velankanni in Tamil Nadu.

He criticised those who were using violent language during the campaign and reminded them that the people required reassurance during the economic slowdown. He requested the BJP and the Sangh Parivar outfits to stop their “hate Muslim campaign” and work towards building confidence among them.Unlike in the West, the impact of the slowdown was not much in India, he said and attributed it to the policies of the UPA Government.

He said the BJP came to power in the State because of the sympathy for B.S. Yeddyurappa who initially faced difficulties in becoming Chief Minister because of the JD(S). Now, there was no sympathy for the BJP and there was an anti-incumbency wave, which would help him win the Bangalore North seat.

Mr. Sharief, an eight-time MP, promised that he would work for providing clean drinking water to Bangalore. The city was facing infrastructure problems, and the water shortage could be solved by resolving the inter-State river water disputes amicably, he added.

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