Bengaluru, Oct 30 Accusing the Congress of politicising the SIR of electoral rolls and misleading youngsters to provoke confrontation, BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar on Friday announced a month-long statewide campaign, ‘Save Democracy, Eradicate Anarchy’, from November 1.
The campaign will involve college students, young professionals, writers, lawyers, doctors, chartered accountants and sportspersons, with interactive programmes planned at more than 500 locations across Karnataka, he told reporters here.
“From November 1 to November 30, we will organise a campaign among college students and young people under the slogan ‘Save Democracy, Eradicate Anarchy’. We have decided to hold large-scale interactive discussions with youngsters across Karnataka,” the Karkala MLA said.
As part of the campaign, a programme involving 1,000 students will be held in Hubballi on November 3, followed by a similar interaction at Town Hall in Bengaluru on November 5, he said.
In the second phase, interactive programmes will be organised in more than 100 colleges across the state, with college students at the centre of the campaign.
The third phase will extend the outreach to all taluk headquarters, mandals and Assembly constituencies, with young writers, lawyers, doctors, chartered accountants and sportspersons also participating, he said.
The former minister said the BJP’s intention was to counter what he described as false narratives being manufactured and circulated among the public.
Referring to an observation by the Supreme Court in a case related to the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), Kumar said the court had cautioned against pushing youngsters into conflicts for political gains, as they would ultimately bear the consequences.
He alleged that the Congress had been using the SIR issue for several months to mislead youngsters and provoke them into confrontation.
“The SIR exercise is a legally mandated activity of the Election Commission. Using it as an excuse to mislead youngsters and push them into confrontation for political gains, as the Supreme Court has cautioned against, is unacceptable,” he claimed.
Defending the SIR exercise, Kumar said electoral rolls had been revised 12 times in the country, of which 10 revisions had taken place when the Congress was in power. The last such revision was in 2004, and the exercise was being undertaken again after 25 years, he said.
He accused the Congress of repeatedly changing its position on electoral processes, saying it had questioned electronic voting machines (EVMs), demanded ballot papers, raised objections to electoral rolls and was now opposing the Special Intensive Revision exercise.
“Initially, it said EVMs were unreliable. Then it demanded ballot papers. Subsequently, it claimed that electoral rolls were faulty. Now it says SIR itself is wrong. After the Uttar Pradesh election results, it will probably start saying that the voters themselves are wrong,” he said.
Kumar highlighted the BJP-led union government’s initiatives for young people, citing the establishment of seven new IITs, 16 IIITs, eight Central universities and 431 medical colleges over the past 12 years.
He said 2,12,283 startups had been established in the country, including 21,601 in Karnataka.
Asked whether the campaign could face opposition in colleges, he said the programmes would be held indoors and that around 10 to 15 colleges had already hosted such events.
“If they try to obstruct these programmes in colleges as well, we will deal with it then,” he said.
Turning to the issue of drought relief, Kumar criticised the state government’s decision to impose 17 conditions for providing Rs 2,500 in assistance to farmers and demanded that the restrictions be withdrawn.
More than 200 of the state’s 223 taluks had been declared drought-hit, and all eligible farmers should be considered for relief, he said.
“By imposing conditions, you are effectively admitting that your government’s Finance Department is bankrupt and has a zero balance,” he alleged.
Questioning the government’s expenditure on its 100-day celebrations, publicity and advertisements, he asked why it was imposing conditions on farmers while spending freely on official celebrations.
In September, the D K Shivakumar-led Karnataka government completed 100 days in office, marking the occasion with a special programme at which several welfare schemes were launched.
The BJP’s demand was that farmers be given Rs 10,000 in relief, Kumar said.
“Our demand is that farmers be given Rs 10,000. If you are imposing such conditions even for the Rs 2,500 you have promised, then indirectly admit that your government is bankrupt, that your treasury has a zero balance and that you cannot pay this year,” he said.
Kumar also accused the state government of withholding more than Rs 1,200 crore in milk subsidy payments to farmers and claimed that milk prices had increased by Rs 17 per litre since 2023.
Reacting to Thursday’s Cabinet decision to raise Nandini milk prices by Rs 8 per litre, Kumar accused the government of burdening consumers with higher milk prices, bus fares, admission fees, stamp duty and other charges, while failing to release subsidies and guarantee scheme payments on time.
(PTI News)
