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| Jaitley warns Congress of dangerous ramifications | | Vision Document Or Division Document | | Rustam
JAMMU, Jan 29: Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha yesterday the Congress's "Vision document" as "division document" and urged the Congress leadership to "reconsider it in national interest". "The Vision Document of Congress seems more like division document as it states about providing reservation on the basis of religion. I want to ask Congress to reconsider it as it is neither in the interest of the nation nor any political party…Providing reservation on the basis of religion would not only divide the society but also deprive backward classes of their genuine rights. This deprivation could agitate the people belonging to backward classes and lead to tension in the society…The Congress has announced its decision to give even 9 per cent reservation to Muslims within the OBC quota in Uttar Pradesh if the party is voted to power despite the fact that the Constitution did not allow reservation on the basis of the religion," Jaitley said.
"Uttar Pradesh has become a battleground for 'competitive communalism'.
The Congress (is) diverting from issues of development and corruption and instead trying to win elections by dividing the society…There is anti-Congress mood in the country as the Congress-led government has not only failed to check soaring price rise but also established new dimensions in corruption," he also said.
Jaitley did not directly say that religion-based quota for the minorities, including Muslim minority, would promote politics of separatism in India and create bad blood between the minorities and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), all Hindus. But his message was loud and clear. His message, nay unambiguous charge, was that the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party are indulging in "competitive communalism" to capture the Muslim votes and win the upcoming assembly election in Uttar Pradesh. Even a naïve would take no time in saying that these three non-BJP formations are contesting the assembly election in Uttar Pradesh not on democratic and economic planks but on the plank of religion-based quota.
What Jaitley said should not be construed as a manifestation of his bias against the Congress party just on the ground that he belongs to the BJP, the Congress's arch-political rival in several states. What he said was absolutely correct. The religion-based quota for the minorities, if introduced, would surely strengthen the communalists and separatists and lead to a bloody civil war in the country.
It bears recalling that Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, along with other Congress leaders, had on January 27 released the party's "vision document" in Lucknow, which promised reservation for minorities, a euphemism for Muslims. The promise was coupled with the condition that the Congress would do so provided it is voted to power in the state. The vision document did not specify the quantum. It said the quota would be in "proportion to the minorities' population" (read about 19 per cent) and would "follow the sub-quota principle that the UPA has implemented at the Centre". The UPA has, it needs to be underlined, earmarked 4.5 per cent sub-quota within the OBC quota for minorities. Earlier on January 9, Salman Khurshid had promised 9 per cent reservation for the Muslims in Utar Pradesh.
As for the BJP, it has promised to scrap the minority quota. On the other hand, the BJP has decided to use the sub-quota principle to win over OBCs. It has said that the "4.5 per cent sub-quota for religious minorities at the Centre would hurt the chances of Hindu backward castes by shrinking their playfield in the 27 per cent quota". The BJP has also decided to rake up Salman Khurshid's 9 per cent minority sub-quota to influence the OBCs by giving them to understand that their quota would be reduced from the existing 27 per cent to 18 pr cent in case the Congress succeeds in its game-plan.
The stand of the BJP has evoked a strong reaction from the Congress and member of National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) Shakeel-uz-Zaman. Shakeel has expressed the view that the stand of the BJP "is a negation of the rights of religious minorities" and that the "4.5 per cent sub-quota is based on economic backwardness and not on religion. What the main opposition party is saying is unconstitutional". The Congress has also expressed identical views. Both the Congress and Zaman are absolutely wrong. The Constitution of India nowhere contemplated reservation on the basis of religion.
Notwithstanding the BJP's decision to exploit the 4.5 per cent or the promised 9 per cent minorities' sub-quota to influence the OBCs, the stand of Jaitley, or for that matter the entire BJP leadership, is correct, rational, national and secular. Hence, Jaitley is to the point when he dismisses with contempt the Congress's "vision document" as "division document". But it is doubtful if the Congress, which is desperate to capture Lucknow, will reconsider its stand on religion-based quota. The Congress party has stopped functioning as a national party. It has virtually become the replica of the parties like the Samajwadi Party. Even the Congress's prime ministerial candidate Rahul Gandhi has jumped on to the bandwagon of the votaries of religion-based quota overlooking the fact that those who present themselves to the people as national leaders never identify themselves with this group or that group; they identify themselves with all the social groups. |
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