Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D K Shivakumar on Monday said Hinduism is no one's property and the party believes in the Hindutva of Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda, and in protecting the interest of people belonging to all communities. DK Shivakumar's statement comes as speculation has been rife in the Congress that he has decided to embrace the Hindutva card to gather support for the party. However, it is not new for the Congress to adopt the soft Hindutva strategy for the purpose of gathering a vote bank.
"Ours is Mahatma Gandhi's Hindutva, Vivekananda's Hindutva...Hinduism is no one's property....India's tradition, culture is the wealth that belongs to all of us. We (Congress) will protect and safeguard the interest of everyone as said in our constitution," Shivakumar told reporters in response to a question about recent developments regarding inter-faith marriages and Hindutva politics.
"Protecting the constitution is our commitment and our stand," he added.
Shivakumar had convened a meeting of senior leaders of the party today on developments in the state and strengthening the Congress as an organisation.
Shivakumar said booth and panchayat level committees will be formed in the coming days towards organising the party and to make Congress a cadre based party.
The booth committees will be called "Praja Pratinidhi" and it will have representation from across sections of the society.
"We will implement it during the upcoming gram panchayat elections itself," he said.
The Karnataka State Election Commission on Monday announced polls to 5,762 gram panchayats in the state in two phases on December 22 and 27, and the model code of conduct has come into immediate effect.
Welcoming the announcement of the polls, Shivakumar said "For the gram panchayat election we are forming nine teams.All our leaders will be part of it. However senior they (leaders) are, they will visit various parts of the state from district to assembly level. MLAs have been given responsibility of neighbouring constituencies," he said.