Branding us as 'minority party' is BJP's last straw: Surjewala

Mangaluru: The Indian National Congress will strike back decisively to mitigate the branding of it as a minority-leaning party by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar organizations, said Randeep Singh Surjewala AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka.

Replying to a question posed by The Hans Indiaon Wednesday in a press conference in the city he stated "we do not believe in promoting unipolar societal values like our 'detractors' we try to unite minds and hearts which has been our policy and values. The Bharat Jodo Yatra was the current example of our efforts to unite the country and its people, I can cite any number of examples of efforts that INC and its leaders have taken in the past. Former Prime Minister and AICC president late Rajiv Gandhi had sacrificed an elected government of his own party to save Punjab from being dominated by Khalistani extremists likewise in the later day Congress governments in Assam and Mizoram were also sacrificed to save the country from being divided by Bodo and Mizo ultras respectively. I am pained that the present Chief Minister Biswa Kumar Sarma has been a Bodo ultra before, now heads the BJP government" Announcing another Yatra exclusively for the Coastal and Malnad region Surjewala stated that "the yatra- entitled Karavali Dhwani will start from Sullia and travel all the way up to Karwar passing through Dakshina Kannada, Udupi Chikkamgaluru and Uttara Kannada, we cannot draw a parallel with the Prajadhwani and Karavali Dhwani alongside the Bharat Jodo yatra- The BJY was an idea of India it was an effort to join India's socio-economic diaspora as one entity. Prajadhwani and Karavali Dhwani are the ones that deliver social empowerment to the region-specific areas and populations"

Giving details of the Karavali Dhwani yatra Surjewala stated "We have a charter for development of Malnad and the coastal region which includes features of igniting a new range of developmental activities. One of the models is to make the Karavali region which is highly eco-sensitive, an IT hub and a garment hub. Which will generate over a lakh of jobs in both skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled categories in the next five years and this is not a hollow promise like that of the BJP government",

The party is also reaching out to Micro OBCs who are left out in the caste-based development programmes. "I am worried about how and why Micro OBCs like Gatti, Kulals, Acharya, Kote, Madiwala, Devadiga, Bhandari, Ganiga, Kottari, Jogi, Thiya, Yadavas, Shettigar, Sherigar, Kudubi, and a number of other lesser known castes and sub-castes were left out of the development programmes. To bring to the mainstream, we will devise a Micro Backward Communities Development Board with sizable funding" Surjewala stated.

Surjewala, like the seasoned political leader he is, chose curt and definite adjectives to describe the BJP government: "Basavaraj Bommai was the weakest and the most incompetent Chief Minister that Karnataka ever had, he had not given a thought to the developmental angle at all", he added.