New Delhi: In a double whammy for the Congress on Thursday, while senior Muslim leader of the party Ghulam Nabi Azad conceded that Hindu candidates had nearly stopped calling him to campaign for them, Karnataka’s DK Shivakumar accepted that his party committed a mistake by interfering with the Lingayat issue in the run-up to the state elections earlier this year.
Speaking in Lucknow on the 201st birth anniversary of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, who founded the Aligarh Muslim University, Azad said, “Since the days of the Youth Congress, I have been campaigning across the country from Andaman and Nicobar to Lakshadweep. Ninety-five per cent of those who used to call me were Hindu brothers and leaders, and just five per cent were Muslim brothers. But, in the past four years, I have observed that the figure of 95 has dropped to just 20 per cent.
“This means that there is something wrong. Today people hesitate in calling me, thinking that it would affect their vote banks,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar apologised on behalf of his party for according minority status to the Lingayats in Karnataka. “Our party has made a big mistake in this state,” he said in Gadag, and went on to say that “no government should interfere in matters of religion and caste. It was a crime made by our government".