Ravi Kumar urges CM to withdraw minority department's army training advertisement

Bengaluru: Opposition Chief Whip in the Legislative Council N. Ravi Kumar has written to Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar seeking immediate clarification and withdrawal of an advertisement issued by the Department of Minorities, which offers 60 days of Army training exclusively to minority youths.

In an open letter written on Wednesday, Ravi Kumar termed the advertisement misleading and questioned the provision of religion-based Army training.

"The Army does not offer religion-based training. There is no provision in the Constitution for providing Army training on the basis of religion," he said.

He maintained that Army training was imparted by the armed forces to candidates selected through a rigorous selection process and that the state government had no role in either the training or the selection.

Ravi Kumar alleged that the advertisement could mislead minority youths by creating the impression that the state government could arrange Army training exclusively for a particular religious community.

He said the government could organise Civil Defence training for youths, irrespective of religion, caste or community, to prepare them to respond to emergencies such as train accidents, floods and earthquakes.

However, describing such an initiative as Army training exclusively for Muslim youths was incorrect, he said.

Ravi Kumar urged the Chief Minister to issue a clarification and direct the Department of Minorities to withdraw the advertisement.

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M Raghuram

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