Mangaluru : Minister for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs U T Khader has urged the Centre to ban all communal organizations involved in criminal activities.
He said the onus of banning organisations like Popular Front of India (PFI) is on the central government since such groups operate from multiple states including Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The state will also keep tabs on such organizations, said the minister in a query as to whether the state government will ban PFI and other organizations.
“All organizations that are linked to criminal activities should be banned. However, action should be taken by the central government since such organizations operate not only from Karnataka, but also from other states. Hence, the Centre should take a stand in this regard. In the meantime, the state government also will have to consider the matter seriously,” Khader said.
On the murder of Deepak Rao, the minister said politicizing a murder will only help the accused, not the victims. “There is a need for checking the background of all accused who killed Deepak Rao. Details of the persons, who support them financially should also be brought before law,” Khader said and added that he will visit Deepak’s family within a few days.
The minister also lamented at the politically motivated social media campaign being carried out against him to malign his character. “Picture of me having lunch with a person (who has criminal background) is being circulated widely through social media. I have been working for the welfare people in my constituency without considering the caste and religion. Such efforts to malign my character were made on earlier occasions too. Such people with vested interests wanted me to go to jail, but voters of my constituency elected me to represent the constituency in Vidhan Soudha,” Khader said.