Sangliana, a former Bangalore police commissioner, said on Saturday, “The Hindutva doctrine is not selling well. We don't subscribe to the idea of Hindutva to be a national policy. It cannot take care of all the communities in the country, which are divided on linguistic and religious basis.”
He said Karnataka’s BJP government was slow in dealing with cases of communal violence. The government did not initiate proper action against anti-social elements involved in communal activities resulting in clashes, he added. Sangliana was elected to Parliament on a BJP ticket from Bangalore North constituency in 2004, but lost his seat when he moved to the Congress Party in 2009.
“These anti-social elements (connect) themselves (to) a political party, so the government is afraid of initiating action. The local police are not tough enough for reasons that they could be transferred. It has happened in the past,” said the former police officer.
On the rise in cases of moral policing in coastal Karnataka, he said perpetrators must be bound by law. They should be made to promise before the court that they would not venture into such activities in future. He said he was aware of the attacks and had spoken to the Governor, Chief Minister and chief secretary about them.
On the recent attack on a Muslim girl by activists of the ABVP, the BJP’s youth wing, he said some members were negating the noble objectives and goals on which the party was founded.
Sangliana spoke to reporters at the Balabrooie Guest House after he arrived in Bangalore to assess progress on the Prime Minister's 15-Point programme for minority citizens’ welfare.
These include equitable distribution of child development, improving access to school education under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, modernisation of madarsas, scholarships to minority students, promoting self employment, benefit to minorities under housing schemes, improvement in the condition of slums, prevention of communal violence and rehabilitation of victims of sectarian clashes.
He said that he has recommended training to sensitise police on minority affairs. On the recent exodus of north-eastern migrants from Bangalore, Sangliana said the state police failed to discharge its duty.
