Bengaluru, March 17 (IANS) Coming down heavily on the Congress-led Karnataka government over its decision to provide 4 per cent reservation to Muslims in tenders, the BJP has stated that this move has the potential to balkanise India. The party has also declared that it would challenge the move in the court.
Addressing the media in New Delhi, BJP National Yuva Morcha President and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya said on Monday that this patently unconstitutional, prima facie illegal act of providing quota for Muslims will be challenged in the court.
“The BJP will fight against this move inside of the Assembly and outside as well. We will raise this issue in the Parliament and we will protest outside the Parliament. We will fight and oppose this in courtrooms. We will take this fight to the people in the state of Karnataka and until and unless the unconstitutional move is rolled back, the BJP’s fight will continue,” Surya declared.
He further pointed out, “Time and again, courts in the country, High Courts and Supreme Court have repeatedly stated that granting reservation solely on the basis of religion is unconstitutional and it’s not permitted.
Even in 2004, the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh proposed this 4 per cent reservation in government tenders for Muslims. It was quashed by the Andhra High Court.
The matter is pending with the Supreme Court before a Constitutional bench.
A similar misadventure by the West Bengal government was quashed by the West Bengal High Court. Even, this matter is pending before the Supreme Court.”
Surya stated, “This action is not only illegal and unconstitutional but also has the potential to balkanise India. It is a threat to national integrity, unity and sovereignty.”
Being fully aware of this legal position, the Siddaramaiah government in a calculated move to send a message to its vote bank had indulged in this unconstitutional misadventure.
This is being done at the behest, direction, and patronage of Congress party’s top leadership, most particularly Rahul Gandhi, he alleged.
Before the commencement of the Lok Sabha campaign, Rahul Gandhi went about the whole country, speaking the same strain of thought that earlier PM Manmohan Singh stated that the minorities of the country have an exclusive first right over the country’s resources.
This is the same strain of thought that is reflected in the Karnataka budget. Rahul Gandhi says, ‘jitna abadi’, utna hak,’ Tejasvi Surya noted.
He emphasised; “The questions that BJP wants to ask Siddaramaiah are these. You claim to be a practitioner of secularism. Is this the brand of secularism that Baba Saheb Ambedkar envisaged for the country, where the benefits of SC-STs are taken away from them and given to minority Muslims? You claim to be a champion of Ambedkar and the welfare of backward classes. When the idea of reservation for Muslims on the basis of religion was mooted during the framing of the Constitution, Baba Saheb had opposed it tooth and nail.”
He quoted, “In 1949, Ambedkar on the floor of the House stated, the reservation on the basis of religion is a fatal dose for the country. To divide a country on the basis of religion does not augur well for integrity and unity. Reservations are meant to safeguard the interests of communities that have historically been subjected to discrimination and social injustice. Religion cannot be the basis for backward classes.”
If separate electorates and communal representation on the basis of religious identities were so vital, why were then they not claimed when Morley-Minto Reforms were on the anvil? Surya questioned.
“We express our disappointment, anger and frustration over the Karnataka government’s proposal to provide 4 per cent reservation to Muslims in government tenders. The Siddaramaiah government in the budget last week proposed to introduce a 4 per cent reservation by amending the KTPP Act,” Surya noted.
This move is not only patently unconstitutional. It is also something, the framers of the Constitution rejected outright, even at the time of forming the Constitution. This is also an idea that quoting the words of Dr B.R. Ambedkar has the potential to balkanise India,” the BJP leader lashed out.
The BJP firmly opposes this proposed unconstitutional move and demands that the Siddaramaiah government roll back this unconstitutional misadventure, Surya appealed.
This is not the first time that the Congress party has taken such misadventure in its efforts to appease its vote bank politics. Starting from the days of Pandit Nehru, efforts have been made by the Congress to appease the Muslim minority at the cost of SC-STs and OBCs.
Baba Saheb Ambedkar has opposed both inside and outside the Parliament, Pundit Nehru’s unabashed appeasement politics, Surya stated.
Speaking in the Parliament, Ambedkar said that the Prime Minister (Nehru) thinks only about the Muslims and never about the SCs and STs. Continuing this trend, the Congress leadership to this day, prioritises over every other group. Backward classes in the country, the interests of the Muslim minorities, he slammed.
–IANS
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