Bengaluru: The BJP on Sunday decided to organise statewide protests on November 8 against the state government’s decision to celebrate Tipu Jayanti and, the increase in the attacks on pro-Hindu activists in the state.

BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa said the Congress government is adamant on celebrating Tipu Jayanti despite opposition from various quarters. The government should not do anything that hurts the sentiments of people.

Therefore, the BJP has decided to stage protests at all the district headquarters on November 8. He was speaking at the valedictory of the four-day orientation programme organised by the BJP for its leaders at a star hotel on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

On Saturday, Yeddyurappa had linked the recent attacks on pro-Hindu activists to Tipu Jayanti controversy and accused the government of indirectly supporting those responsible for the attacks. The government is celebrating Tipu Jayanti on November 10.

Karnataka is witnessing ‘organised and systematic’ attacks on the BJP and the RSS workers, similar to those in Kerala. The Karnataka government has not taken steps to prevent the attacks and punish those responsible for such attacks, Yeddyurappa said.

He demanded the government to handover all the cases of attacks on pro-Hindu activists, in the last two-and-a-half years, to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for investigation. The government should immediately ban the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Popular Front of India and Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD). A delegation of the state BJP leaders will soon meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and submit a memorandum in this regard, he said.

Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D V Sadananda Gowda warned that the Union Home minister will be forced to intervene and take necessary steps if the incidents of attacks continue in the state.

“The recent attacks have a lot of similarities with each other. Kinds of weapons used and the plan of action in all these attacks are similar. The attacks appear to be a big conspiracy. People are suspecting that the government is indirectly supporting those responsible for the attacks,” Gowda added.