BJP equates PM's sops to Muslims as ''Aurangzeb Jazia''

New Delhi, Mar 14 (UNI) The BJP today dubbed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's sops to the Muslims as ''Aurangzeb's Jazia'' which discriminated Hindus against them.

''The Prime Minister's announcement that the Muslims have the first right to resources is not only objectionable but also condemnable. It is nothing but perverted secularism,'' the party said.

Describing such sops as merely ''vote bank'' politics, the party said out of the 36 crore people living below the poverty line, about 20,000 are Hindus and 10,000, others, while Muslims account for only 6,000.

There were 80 per cent Hindu families whose annual income was below Rs 50,000 but the government thought only about poor Muslim students for scholarships in education.

''This kind of discrimination we have seen only during Aurangzeb's rule who imposed 'Jazia' under which only non-Muslims were taxed,'' BJP Deputy Leader V K Malhotra said.

While clarifying that the BJP was not against the Muslims being given subsidies but people belonging to the weaker sections should not be discriminated, he said, referring to the proposal of special drive to appoint Muslims in para-military forces and full subsidy for coaching Muslims students for higher education including polytechniques.

The party said there was no case before the Minorities Commission that anybody had been discriminated in admissions to educational institutions and appointments because he or she was a Muslim.

The Government's blatant approach to appease Muslims was only conveying that it was a sin to be a Hindu or anyone non-Muslim, the party cautioned.

Holding the Congress fully responsible for the condition of the Muslims in the country even after 61 years of independence, the BJP said Congress ruled for about 50 years -- 45 years by a single family -- which had never gone deeper to identify the causes of lack of progress among the community.

Muslims have predominent populations in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, being ruled by 'secular' parties, the party said.

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