Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: ExpressIndia.com
Date: April 21, 2006
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=66457
Accusing the Congress of 'completely surrendering
itself to the politics of minorityism', senior BJP leader L K Advani on Friday
said the policy of religion-based reservations was an assault on the 'basic
spirit' of the Constitution and reflected a 'dangerous new mindset' in the
ruling party.
"The people of India will not keep quiet
if Congress persists with its sinister attempts," Advani said on the
12th day of his 'Bharat Suraksha Yatra'.
Pointing out how the stalwarts of the Constituent
Assembly, including B R Ambedkar, had rejected the idea of communal reservations,
he said the present leadership of the Congress was trying to alter the basic
spirit of the Constitution by relentlessly pushing religion-based reservations
for minorities, guided purely by vote bank politics.
He said the demand for such reservations was
being made more aggressively since the UPA came to power and the Congress
leaders were lending support to this 'divisive demand either overtly or covertly'.
The leader of the Opposition assailed Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for maintaining
silence over the demand for Muslim reservations in jobs and educational institutions
made by a delegation led by Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid recently.
"I appeal to them (Singh and Gandhi)
to ponder over this. Aren't they defying the unanimous view of Pandit Nehru,
Sardar Patel and Ambedkar (on religion-based reservations)?" Advani said.
The Congress government's decision to provide
5 per cent reservations to Muslims, the Centre's move to reserve 50 per cent
seats to Mulsims in Aligarh Muslim University and the aborted attempt to conduct
Muslim census in the armed forces were the initial pointers to the dangerous
new mindset of the Congress, he said.
Replying to a question, he said his party
believed in genuine secularism and strong nationalism. "Those who criticise
Hindutva think that it means anti-secular, anti-Muslim and communal. India
has been secular for ages and it is essentially because of its Hindu character,"
Advani said.
On the storm generated within the BJP after
his comments on Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, he said, "it
shows the level of tolerance in the party even for a dissenting point of view.
It is not something about which I feel apologetic".
