The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Tuesday attacked the Congress government in Karnataka for promoting minoritism by recommending religious minority status for the Lingayat community and said all rights given to the minorities in the country should also be given to the members of the majority community.
"Minoritism is dangerous for the country. Karnataka Congress is trying to cut out Lingayat community from Hindu religion just before the elections as it wants to divide the people for votes," said VHP Joint General Secretary Surendra Jain.
The Karnataka cabinet had on Monday granted the long-demanded status of a separate religion to Lingayat community that forms 17 per cent of the state's population. Lingayats are followers of 12th-century social reformer Basavanna and his teachings.
"We stand for same rights for all citizens in the country. In India, no one is a minority or a majority. Every citizen is a child of Mother India," Jain said in a press statement.
"VHP is of the opinion that all rights meant for minorities should also be given to the members of majority community," he added.
The VHP leader said the Congress is reflecting its "conspiratory mindset" again, as it did a similar thing with the Jain community before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. "But, Congress lost the elections despite its divisionary politics. It will lose again," he said.
Jain said minoritism is against the Constitution and the Supreme Court has warned against it several times. The apex court had, in fact, made the National Minorities Commission responsible to wipe out minoritism from the country, he added.
"While the minority commission is silent on the issue, Rahul Gandhi is dreaming of another division of the country for elections," the leader of right-wing pro-Hindutva organisation said.
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