Date:19/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/19/stories/2008091954330400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Attacks distressing: college faculty

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: In an open letter to Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, the principal and faculty members of St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore, have expressed their “deep distress” over attacks on educational institutions and churches in Karnataka and condemned the “campaign of hate that has been systematically carried out” by the BJP’s “affiliates” and sometimes the BJP’s own cadre.

Recalling the 125-year legacy of the college in “the ideals of democracy and secularism” and the role it has played in the freedom movement, Ambrose Pinto S.J., principal of St. Joseph’s College, and other members of the faculty said that their anxiety did not stem from any personal interest, but from concern for the State of Karnataka and its people.

“As an educational institution with high moral and ethical credentials, we are concerned about the divisive politics that polarises people on the basis of religion,” they said in the letter.

Warning that hate and anger will not help them gain more seats in the Lok Sabha elections, they said: “People always see through divisive politics. Only economic development for the masses and the just practice of secular Constitution can promise you votes.”

They said that they would “continue to dissent in the true democratic spirit of the Constitution when the Constitution of the land is under attack.”