Saffron organizations are using poor backward class youth – Sorake

Saffron organizations are using poor backward class youth – Sorake

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Sept. 21, 2012: AICC Secretary Vinay Kumar Sorake accused saffron organizations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and RSS of misleading youth belonging to the backward classes and using them to propagate their hate campaign.

Speaking at the district-level convention of Other Backward Classes (OBC) wing of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) held in Mangalore today, he pointed that most of those who were arrested in connection with the home stay attack belong to the backward classes. Members of the backward classes agree to commit such acts for saffron outfits to get out of their poverty, he added.

Further, he accused the BJP of attempting to garner votes through a divide and rule policy, adding that the public should be made aware of the BJP’s unjust and anti-people agenda.

M. C. Venugopal, president of the OBC wing of the KPCC, delivered the presidential address, in which he said that the Congress has the support of backward class and minority communities. Accusing the state government of attempting to weaken this support by limiting the income for category 1 to Rs. 1 lakh and the income of category 2 to Rs. 44,500, he said that this makes it difficult for families belonging to these categories to educate their children. The BJP is denying education to these categories because they do not want the backward classes to progress, he accused.

He also promised that they will discuss the matter with the chief minister and see if concessions can be offered to people belonging to these categories.

Further, he said that the UPA government has released Rs. 21.5 crore in 2005 in addition to the state government’s Rs. 2 crore to conduct an educational and social survey in Karnataka, but the BJP has been postponing the survey for the past 7 years in spite of Supreme Court notices. Stating that this survey is essential to understand the condition of the backward classes, he said that the BJP government’s lethargy is ample proof of the fact that it does not care for the welfare of the backward classes. The Congress, on the other hand, is making attempts to fill vacant posts reserved for backward classes and is trying to get reservations for them in national and multi-national companies, he added.

He also alleged that the state government is not appointing a Lokayukta for the state simply because it knows that 70 percent of its ministers are corrupt.

KPCC President Ivan D’Souza, former MLA Vijaykumar Shetty, Mayor Gulzar Banu, P. V. Mohan, Suresh Ballal, and others were also present.