BJP minority morcha to hold dharna in support of Prabhakar Bhat

Mangalore, February 1: The minority morcha of the district unit of the BJP will hold a protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office in Mangalore on February 7 demanding withdrawal of cases filed against RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat in connection with a speech he made in Uppinangady last month.

Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, Anwar Manippady, chairman of Karnataka Minorities Commission and N.B. Aboobaker, president, Minorities Development Corporation, said the minorities cell of the party will submit a fact-finding report on the episode to the Governor of Karnataka through the deputy commissioner at the conclusion of the protest meeting.

The BJP leaders also hit out at the Muslim Central Committee president K.S. Mohammed Masood for accusing Bhat of fanning communal tension. "Masood is acting as an agent of Congress and JD(S)," Mr. Manippady and Mr. Aboobaker said.

Mr. Manippady also released the CD of the allegedly provocative speech delivered by Bhat on 22nd January 2012. Ironically the tape of the speech available on the internet contains derogatory references to both Muslim and Christian community. In fact, the RSS leader had started off his speech by refering to the strenght of the Hindus vis a vis Muslims. "We are a nation of 110 crore people. If you assume there are 20 crore Muslims in the country the remaining 90 crore population is Hindu. If we (Hindus) just blow wind from our mouth, they (Muslims) will be nowhere," - the footage shows Mr. Bhat using similar language throughout his speech.

Mr. Bhat has also used offensive language against the Christian priests and urged Hindu parents not to send their children to Christian schools, which in fact is a clear sign of dividing the society on the basis of religion. He has also ridiculed the use of term father for Christian priests. "Why do you allow your children to call someone father?" he had mockingly asked.

Ridiculing Shariath, Mr. Bhat had said that if the Shariah law were to be implemented in India, 90 per cent of Muslims would not have arms. We would not find land to bury them (Muslims) to be stoned for indulging in indultry," Mr. Bhat had said.

He had also made a remark on Burkha, asking the Muslim youths, who are allegedly "behind Hindu girls" to lift the veil of your own girls before trying to lure our (Hindu) girls. "If you don't find them beautiful then you think about our (Hindu) girls," Mr. Bhat had said.

However, Mr. Manippady and Mr. Aboobaker, in their defence of Mr. Bhat, insisted that there were no derogatory referencest to Burkha in the speech. "It is organisations like Congress, JD(S) and KFD which are supporting anti-social elements. Why was Masood silent when slogans supporting Pakistan were raised during a procession," he asked.

Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy president-designate Rahim Uchil, General Secretary of the Minority Morcha Fazal Asaigoli, Anwar Reeko, among others, were present.