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Bengaluru, Oct 16 (IANS) Criticizing the Congress-led Karnataka government’s decision to ban Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activities in public places, Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Shobha Karandlaje on Thursday remarked that if the Congress thinks that by running only two to three governments across the country, they can scare the BJP and the RSS. So they are wrong.
“If they (Congress) run the government in only two or three states and claim that they will scare away the BJP and the RSS, it is nothing but foolishness,” Karandlaje said.
Speaking to the media in Bengaluru, the Union Minister took aim at state Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Priyank Kharge, who had proposed a ban on the RSS, and challenged whether he could actually ban the RSS.
He also asked the Congress, “The RSS was banned in 1948. What happened after that? You could not do anything. In 1975, all our leaders were jailed. LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee were imprisoned in the old jail at Freedom Park. What happened then?”
He said, “Can you really ban the RSS? The RSS, which was not afraid of Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi, will certainly not be afraid of a sycophant like Priyank Kharge.” He said that Congress governments like Siddaramaiah have seen this many times in this country.
“Today, the RSS has become a huge tree. What Nehru and Indira Gandhi could not do, can Priyank Kharge – who lives only under the shadow of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s name – accomplish? Can CM Siddaramaiah, who fights daily for the CM’s chair, really achieve this?” Karandlaje asked.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council and senior BJP leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said, “In today’s cabinet meeting organized by the Karnataka government, Minister Priyank Kharge was really shocked. He tried to target the RSS, but nothing happened. Instead, he rolled back the law made by the previous BJP-led state government, under which all organizations were required to obtain prior permission before organizing events.”
“This rule has been in existence for a long time during the tenure of all state governments. By trying to portray the RSS negatively, Priyank Kharge could not achieve anything beyond this. There is much more to this decision. His own vote bank, Muslims, used to gather in large numbers during festivals. After this, they started blocking roads in public places all over Karnataka. Minister Priyank Kharge on this issue of intolerance Demonstrating this, Narayanaswami said, “We were looking for ways to control Muslims.”
He said, “Minister Priyank Kharge could not have confronted them (RSS) directly. Under the pretext of criticizing the RSS, he has now ensured that permission is required for all religious events. For this, I really appreciate Minister Kharge, even though he opposes the BJP and the RSS.”
State BJP general secretary and MLA V. Sunil Kumar said, “This is a conspiracy to keep the public away from government schools. In today’s cabinet meeting, it was decided to ban private programs being held in government and unaided schools as well as other government-owned places. Through this, the state government is moving towards denying public participation in government schools.”
“Making prior permission mandatory for private organizations to conduct activities in school premises, and intending to restrict entry of private individuals – what is the intention behind this?” he asked.
“Rural government schools are not just centers of learning. On weekends, they serve as venues for meetings of associations and organizations, cultural programs and sports events. So will the state government now ban all this? Restricting access to government school campuses means cutting them off from the public, and in the long run, it appears to be the government’s ploy to close government schools. This is nothing but a childish decision by the Karnataka government. Is,” Sunil Kumar said criticizingly. Karnataka Government.
–IANS
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