Karnataka BJP to launch helpline for its workers take on ‘legal atrocities’ of Congress government

“This helpline number is for the use of state workers. It will operate 24 hours. When false cases are filed against our activists, or the police system is misused to suppress their freedom of expression, they can call this number and get help,” he said.

“Our team of lawyers present in every nook and corner of the state will rush to help the activists,” Surya said.

He also gave assurances that they would protect the workers by filing a case in the court and the police station on their behalf.

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About the ‘helpline’

The Karnataka BJP legal cell is expected to equip a team of senior lawyers and experts to protect the interest of the society by knocking on the court door through PIL and writ petitions, he was quoted as saying by the state BJP in a statement.

Alleging that during the previous Congress government there were attempts to prevent the celebration of festivals with lame reasons or rules, the Bengaluru South MP said if such a situation arose, a team of lawyers was getting ready in Bengaluru, Dharwad, and Kalaburagi to fight against it in the courts by filing PIL and writs.

“It has come to our notice that after the new Congress government came to power, they are threatening, falsely accusing our workers and filing cases in police stations,” he said.

Tejasvi Surya also cited the recent instance of an RSS worker being arrested in Raichur.

The arrested right-wing activist, Raju Tampak, had put up a Whatsapp status stating Muslim women were babymaking factories, which went viral in Lingsugur in the Raichur district.

Around 300-400 men belonging to the minority community gathered in front of the Lingsugur Police Station and urged the cops to register a case and arrest the right-winger.

South First had reported this case and the arrest.

Politics of hatred was practised during the previous Siddaramaiah-led Congress administration, Surya said, pointing out that cases were filed against BJP and Hindu activists and supporters as rowdy sheets were opened against them in several parts of the state, and they were taken to the police station after the filing of a case.

At many times during the previous Congress regime, when Hindu activists were killed, the charge-sheets were weakened without filing a proper FIR, investigations were not conducted properly in the courts, and the cases were not taken to their logical conclusion, he alleged.

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Not the first such helpline

This is not the first time the Karnataka BJP unit launched a helpline along political lines.

The BJP furthered its Hindutva push ahead of the Assembly elections in the state with the Karnataka unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) setting up a “Love Jihad Helpline” in communally sensitive Mangaluru.

The VHP, along with other Hindutva outfits like the Bajrang Dal, claimed that the “helpline” was to “assist” Hindu women being “lured for religious conversion”.

Members of the Hindu outfits claimed that they had started this helpline after the horrific murder of Shraddha Walkar, who was allegedly killed and cut into 35 pieces by her live-in partner and boyfriend Afatab Poonawala in Delhi.

Venting anguish over the then BJP government, the then KPCC communications chairman and Chittapur MLA Priyank Kharge had said: “The Karnataka government was run by these fringe groups (VHP and Bajrang Dal).”

In December last year, many Hindu outfits approached the Basavaraj Bommai-led Karnataka government seeking a separate law or a special task force to fight against Love Jihad cases.

(With PTI inputs)

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