SIMI ban: BJP blames UPA govt

Hyderabad, Aug 6 (UNI) Alleging that the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was behind the recent bomb blasts in different parts of the country, the BJP today blamed the UPA Government at the Centre for not providing enough evidence before the specially-designated tribunal of Delhi high court, which yesterday lifted the ban on activities of the organisation..

The Centre had not argued the case well, leading to the lifting of the ban on SIMI on technical grounds, BJP National Legal Cell Joint Convenor N Ramachandra Rao told a press conference here.

''Incompetence of the Congress-led UPA government had been thoroughly exposed,'' he alleged, accusing it of ''playing vote bank politics''.

The ban was imposed on SIMI first in 2001 under the Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act and extended thereafter every two years.

He claimed that the Congress government in the state was ''misleading'' the people on the Supreme Court direction on reservation for Muslims in education and government jobs. It was only an interim order and the state Government had to abide by the verdict of the Constitutional bench of the state High Court, which was hearing the petition challenging the ''religion-based reservation'' for the community which, he claimed, was ''unconstitutional''.

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