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BJP parliamentary party condemns PM's statement on Muslims
The BJP decided to shift its protest over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks about Muslims outside Parliament, reports Shekhar Iyer.
The BJP decided to shift its protest over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks about Muslims outside Parliament.
A meeting of the BJP's parliamentary party chaired by former PM AB Vajpayee adopted a resolution that condemned the PM's remarks that the minorities, in particular Muslims have the first claim to the country's resources.
A "Campaign against the Congress politics of appeasement" will be launched throughout the country from December 15 to 21, BJP chief Rajnath Singh announced.
Brushing aside the government's clarification on the PM's statement, the BJP resolution said the poorest of the poor have the first claim on the country's resources — not a religious group as a religious group.
"The statement of the PM is no accident. It is the latest step in a series by which the UPA government is seeking to appease Muslims — irrespective of the injury that would be inflicted on the national interest, and indeed on the Muslims themselves."
It said the "series" included the controversy over the singing of Vande Mataram, Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh's move for Muslims (which was struck down by the High Court), head count in the Armed Forces which was opposed by the Army chief, and amendments to aid and abet Bangladeshi infilitration in spite of the Supreme Court striking down the IMDT Act.
Leader of the Opposition LK Advani told BJP MPs that they should launch a campaign in their constituencies against Singh's remarks that plans for minorities, especially Muslims, must have the first claim on the country's resources.
"Advani said, there should be a countrywide campaign against such comments as they reek of communalism," deputy leader of the Lok Sabha Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters after the BJP's parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi.
The party, Malhotra said, regarded Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia's "clarifications" of the Prime Minister's remarks as in fact a "confirmation" of what he had spoken at the National Development Council (NDC) meeting on Saturday.
Ahead of its national executive meeting in Lucknow from December 22, the BJP will hold demonstrations and sit-in protests across the country to protest the Prime Minister's comments on Saturday at the NDC meeting, Rajnath said.
With Vande Mataram topping the BJP's agenda at its Dehradun conclave in September, Rajnath said the party would take up the PM's minority comments as a key issue at its Lucknow meeting.
In Patna, differing with his ally BJP on the PM's statement, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that it was not at all objectionable and should be judged in totality, not in isolation.
"If you see the PM's statement at the National Development Council meeting in isolation, it carries a different meaning. But if the statement is seen in totality, the meaning is altogether different," Kumar, who himself participated in the meeting, said.
Kumar, however, vehemently opposed reservation in government jobs on the basis of religion.
