A group of Christian leaders, under the banner of Bharatiya Kraistha Okkoota, expressed their anger over the ruling Congress party in Karnataka and said they would use the option of NOTA to mark their protest.
Addressing a Press conference in Bangalore, the Christian leaders — affiliated with the Global Council of Indian Christians and the Economic and Social Forum of the United Nations, comprised the International Federation of Karnataka Christian Associations (IFKCA) and Federation of Konkani Catholic Associations (FKCA) — have expressed their hurt and anger at the ruling Congress party for not fielding a single Christian candidate out of 28 lok Sabha constituencies across the State.
President of the forum Charles Amber said that the Congress party, which has always treated the Christian community along with other minorities as its ‘’vote banks,” had completely ignored them by denying even a single ticket for to contest polls.
According to them, the Christian community constitutes of nearly four per cent of Karnataka’s total population of over 6.2 crore and have a sizeable presence in Mangalore, Udupi-Chikmagalur, Karwar, Shimoga, Dharwad, Belgaum, Mysore and Bangalore. They asserted that they have been a decisive factor in the elections and might play a trample on the dreams of the Congress. IFKCA secretary Michael Baptist, FKCA past chairmen Valerian R Fernandes and Charles Gomes, blamed the ruling party for neglecting the interests of the Christian community.
The Christian leaders said that the Congress should have been ‘’more considerate and sympathetic” towards the community, considering its loyal backing over the years, and alleged that the Congress Government was ‘’deliberately sidelining Christians from the top posts in the Government.
The leaders added that the present Congress Government of CM Siddaramaiah’’is apathetic to the issues of their community” and pointed out that the Christian Development Council, set up by the previous BJP Government is ‘’not being taken forward now”.
They blamed the Government for modification of schemes of the Karnataka State Minorities Development Corporation in such a way that they have become useless for the community.
‘’Not even a single Christian was recognised by the present Government in the Rajyothsava awards for the year 2013, which indicates their bias against the community,” they added. Eom/blr