Bengaluru, Mar 28: Karnataka BJP legislator and Chief Minister's political secretary M P Renukacharya on Monday urged the state government to ban madrasas, alleging that matters relating to 'anti-national' activities are taught there.

He questioned the need for madrasas, when there are government-run schools where education that is required for the all-round development of a child is imparted.

"At madrasas, they don't teach about our visionaries, the leaders who have made sacrifices for the country. They only teach about Islamic (studies) there...," Renukacharya said.

Speaking to reporters here, the Honnali MLA alleged that matters that reflect on anti-national activities are taught at madrasas which will have an 'adverse impact' on the minds of innocent children.

"I demand that madrasas should be banned...don't we have schools run by the government, where lessons are taught? We do...," he said, adding that if madrasas teach about visionaries, and the leaders who have made sacrifices for the country, he would welcome them.

The MLA, also went on to accuse the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in the past of releasing funds to madrasas, while they didn't have money for Hindu religious institutions and mutts.

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New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said the use of "abusive" language by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is "utterly shameful" and added Prime Minister Narendra Modi must clarify whether he endorses this "insult".

Sarma had triggered a row on Tuesday when he hit out at Kharge, saying that he was "speaking like a mad man" due to old age, after the latter put the onus on central agencies to probe the charges made against the Assam chief minister.

In a post in Hindi on X, Priyanka Gandhi said, "The kind of abusive and derogatory language used by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma against the Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, is utterly shameful and unacceptable."

She said Kharge is one of the most senior leaders in the country and serves as an enlightened representative not only of the Congress party but also of the Dalits and the marginalised sections of the nation.

"By insulting him, the BJP chief minister has insulted crores of people across the country," she said.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi must clarify to the nation: does he endorse this insult directed at crores of Indians?" she said.

The Congress on Tuesday accused Sarma of insulting party chief Kharge and demanded an unconditional apology from him for his "deplorable conduct" that it alleged reflects the "anti-Dalit mindset" of the BJP.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday had said the use of "derogatory language" against party chief Mallikarjun Kharge by Sarma was an insult to the entire SC/ST community, and the silence of Prime Minister Modi on the matter "is not his helplessness, but his consent".

"If the prime minister sees an attack on the dignity of crores of Dalits in the country and does not speak up - he is not only shirking his responsibility, but is also a party to that insult," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

Gandhi said the use of "vulgar and derogatory language" by Sarma against Kharge "is entirely condemnable, shameful, and unacceptable".

"Kharge ji is a senior and popular Dalit leader of the country - his experience, stature, and prestige are unparalleled. Insulting him is not an insult to one individual alone, but also to crores of people from the SC-ST community in this country," he posted.

This, he said, just reflected the "old and premeditated mindset" of the BJP-RSS and was nothing new.

"Whether it is the insult to Babasaheb Ambedkar, belittling Dalit leaders, or personal attacks on representatives of the SC-ST community - the history of BJP and RSS bears witness that whenever a Dalit leader speaks the truth, they stoop to humiliate him," Gandhi said.

"This is their ideology, this is their true character and face," he added.

Posing a direct question to the prime minister, he asked, "Do you support Himanta Sarma's use of this language? Your silence is not helplessness, it is consent."