Politicisation of religion, caste, a threat to integration

Hyderabad, Oct 20 (UNI) Former Maharashtra Governor and Member of Parliament P C Alexander today observed that politicisation of religion, caste and fragmcatation of our society were posing a threat to national integration.

Delivering the 22nd Sardar Vallabhai Patel Memorial lecture on 'threats to national integration' at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy here, Mr Alexander said politicisation of religion was very dangerous to the society and it would hamper the integration of the country.

He said politicisation of caste was also dangerous for national integration. ''Caste-based politics should be wiped out and where is democracy if we pursue caste-based politics'', he added.

He was opposed for caste-based reservations. The reservations should be 'class' based not 'caste' based, he said, adding caste-based politics would be a threat to national integration in the long-run.

Mr Alexander said reservations for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were necessary as they suffered a lot for generations. The reservations should be provided to these Backward Classes to uplift their economic conditions and bring them into the mainstream of the society.

He said in the present scenario of fragmentation of the society, there were no healthy political parties in the country. The recognised and major political parties were disappearing and regional parties were coming into limelight.

Mr Alexander said though he was not opposed to the regional parties, he said the person elected to Lok Sabha or Assembly with a small percentage of votes representing a small regional party he belonged to, becomes a Minister in the Cabinet.

UNI