Mysuru: Members of State Vokkaliga Sangha, District Vokkaliga Sangha and Akhila Karnataka Vokkaliga Sangha staged a protest in front of Zilla Panchayat Office recently against the State Government for registering an FIR against Vishwa Vokkaliga Maha Samsthana Mutt Seer Sri Chandrashekaranatha Swamiji for his controversial remarks against a minority community.

The protestors said that the Swamiji, while addressing the gathering in Bengaluru, had only expressed his concerns over the Karnataka Waqf Board’s actions to expand its lands and had suggested that Muslims should be deprived of their voting rights as they do not believe in the Indian Constitution and to abolish the Waqf Board.

While the State Government has filed an FIR against the Swamiji, it has failed to initiate action against Waqf and Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan for his racial comments against Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Stating that the Karnataka Government was ‘anti-Hindu’, the protestors demanded immediate withdrawal of the FIR against the Swamiji and threatened to stage a Statewide protest on failing to withdraw the case.

State Vokkaliga Sangha President C.G. Gangadhar, District President Tejas Lokeshgowda, Latha Ranganath, Shivalingaiah, Mysuru Jilla Vokkaliga President Mariswamy, Manjunath, Bhagyamma, Neha and others took part in the protest.