Viral Sach: Did Sonia Gandhi plan to divide Karnataka on religious lines before assembly polls?

Viral Sach finds out the truth behind the viral letter in which it is alleged that Sonia Gandhi chalked a plan to create religious differences in Karnataka before assembly polls.

Image: PTI File

New Delhi: Lately a letter has been doing rounds on social media which claims to expose UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s alleged plan to divide Karnataka on religious lines. The letter addressed to Sonia Gandhi reads: "Madam As per your suggestion I along with a few ministers had an extensive and elaborate discussion with the representatives of Global Christian Council (GCC) and World Islamic Organisation regarding strategy to be adopted for the 2018 elections to the Karnataka Assembly." The letter further reads: “The unanimous opinion is that in order to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections it is essential to curb the RSS growth in Karnataka and defeat BJP in the 2018 assembly election. This can be achieved by uniting the Muslims and Christians on the basis of their faith: divide the Hindus on the basis of caste/sub-caste and sect/sub-sect.” It lays out the plan to achieve the stated objective. “To achieve this objective it was decided that we use differences prevailing in the Lingayat community and announce sops for Muslims and Christians in our budget and later in our election manifesto.” To find out whether the letter is true or fake, team Viral Sach went to the BLDE Association, (Bijapur Lingayat District Association), that was marked boldly on the top of the letter. The letter also had the logo of the BLDE Association. Following the address printed on the letter our team reached the President of BLDE Association - Dr. M B Patil. His son B M Patil met our team and refuted the claims. Showing the difference between the original letterhead of BLDE Association and the logo used in the letter, he stated that the letter is fake and politically motivated. Therefore the message that claims Sonia Gandhi’s divisive plan targeting Hindus in Karnataka has been proved false in our investigation. Watch: