BJP raps Paswan on Minority Reservation issue

New Delhi, Nov 10 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party today lashed out at Union Chemical and Fertilizer and Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan for seeking job reservations for Muslims, describing it as "unfortunate" and "unconstitutional".

The party demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to clear the UPA Government's stand on religion based reservation.

Pointing out that the demand for religious reservation had been rejected by the Courts time and again, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said such demands were more guided to garner minority votes rather than their welfare. The demand by Union Minister Paswan reinforced the "competitive oneupmanship" for minority appeasement championed by the Congress and now UPA.

Mr Prasad referred to court rulings in Andhra Pradesh and in the case of Aligarh Muslim University which clearly stated that religion based reservation had no constitutional sanctity.

"Yet to revive it for the sake of pure vote bank politics points to a dangerous doctrine, which has the mischief potential to divide the nation once again," he said.

Asserting that the BJP would strongly oppose any such move, he said the ''so-called champions of minority rights'' should explain why the Muslims had lagged behind in economic, education and social development even more than 55 years of Independence.

Be it the case of Shah Bano, or Imrana or Afzal Guru, some parties' concern was merely ''false symbolism" to garner minority votes, he said, adding the Minorities Ministry headed by Mr A R Antulay had not been allocated any work till now.

For BJP, Muslims were first Indians for whose welfare genuine steps needed to be taken, he, however, clarified.

The party, meanwhile, demanded that the clemency petition of Afzal Guru be disposed of at the earliest.

UNI KAS PK VV1645