The BJP has once again slammed Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's government for indulging in minority appeasement by providing financial assistance to Christians for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and other Biblical places.
BJP spokesperson Lanka Dinakar on Thursday accused the Andhra Pradesh government of misusing public money.
"Soon after YS Jagan Mohan Reddy became chief minister, he went to Jerusalem, it was declared as his private visit, but more than 30,000 dollars were paid to a travel agency of Israel through GO No 1737. Now his government has issued a GO number 54 on August 27 to provide financial assistance to Christians for Jerusalem trip. It appears that CM Jagan approach is that like him every Christian is eligible to go there with the funds from state government's exchequer," Dinakaran said.
Dinakaran added that the state government had provided no such facilities to the Hindus for their pilgrimages while it keeps on treating their temples as "revenue-generating" machines for the government exchequer.
"There is no such facilities for the Hindus those who want to go for Kailash Manasarovar, Bali etc. to honour their customs and traditions. Isn't it Christian appeasement and neglecting the Hindus. Hindus and their temples are treated as revenue-generating engines to the government and those revenues are being used against the Hindu customs and traditions to woo conversions. We object to this partiality," Dinakaran said.
On August 27, the state government through a Government Order (GO) revived the scheme of providing financial assistance to Christian pilgrims by the Andhra Pradesh State Christian (Minorities) Finance Corporation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
It had also enhanced the tour period from eight days and seven nights to 10 days and nine nights for smooth conduct of the pilgrimage and also inclusion of four new places (Madaba Church of Apostles, Virgin Mary Tomb, Solomon's Temple and Mount Moriah) in the list of places to be visited during the pilgrimage.
( With inputs from ANI )