Mangaluru: VHP and Bajrang Dal condemned the state government move to introduce the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 1997 to take control of Hindu religious institutions. VHP and Bajrang Dal demanded that the state government withdraw January 29 notification seeking feedback from people on its move to amend the Act which allows them to take over mutts and temples if they are in trouble.

M B Puranik, working president, VHP Karnataka told reporters on Thursday that the notification comes on the back of a similar attempt by the government seeking opinion from heads of policing units in Karnataka to withdraw criminal cases registered against minorities involved in communal incidents. This latest notification seeking public opinion on the Act is a continued part of politics of appeasement of one section of society at the cost of the majority in the state, he said.

Puranik, a former member of the State Dharmik Parishat wondered the haste shown by the state government at a juncture when Karnataka is close to assembly polls. The government had all the time to seek public opinion on this issue, he said adding that it was this very government that sacked the Parishat constituted by the previous government within 8-days of coming to power. The government also showed no true intent in reconstituting the Parishat, he noted.

Describing the step as means to draw wedge between Hindu communities and striving to divide them on caste lines, Puranik said this is also part of a larger design to polarize the majority and minority communities as well. The state government has already shown its inability to manage temples under religious endowment department and will certainly not be in a position to manage the rest of temples and religious institutions of Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists, he added.