Andhra Pradesh: BJP Lambastes Jagan Government Over Introduction Of Rs 5,000 Monthly Allowance For Christian Pastors

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has condemned the move by Andhra Pradesh’s Jagan Mohan Reddy government to provide a monthly allowance of Rs 5,000 to Christian pastors, reports Times Now News. The BJP claimed that the decision was favouring a particular religion and could polarise people on religious grounds.

The criticism from the state unit of BJP comes days after the YSR Congress Party government passed an order that paved the way to give the honorarium amount to Christian pastors.

In his party manifesto for the state assembly elections held earlier this year, Jagan Mohan Reddy had promised an honorarium of Rs 5,000 a month to Christian pastors, Rs 15,000 to imams and muezzins along with Rs 10,000 to Rs 35,000 for the maintenance of temples in the state. He had also set a deadline of March 2020 to fulfil all his promises.

Andhra Pradesh Minorities Welfare Department has already released a circular to the Collectors and District Magistrates (DMs) directing them to conduct a survey to find pastors through village volunteers and send a report to the government within 15 days.

The Andhra Pradesh BJP also accused the state government of wasting public money and termed the decision a ‘deplorable act’.