The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has decided to increase its vote share by reaching out to Muslims, Dalits and other backward classes, today blamed the Congress for promoting religion-based reservations and alleged the ‘grand old party’ was sowing seeds for another partition of India.
Rejecting the Rangnath Misra Commission Report, BJP’s former president Venkaiah Naidu strongly criticised the Congress and its government for introducing religion-based reservations, dishonouring the Constitution and judiciary.
“The reservation based on religion was opposed by the Britishers and later by the committee headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Even Jawaharlal Nehru had written to all states against religion-based reservations. Ironically, Congress does not want to respect its leaders and recall history, but wants to play a vote bank politics,” Naidu said.
He also deplored the commission’s recommendation to provide reservation to converts. He alleged this would encourage more conversions in the country. “If the government decides to grant scheduled cast status to converts, it would amount to formal introduction of caste system in Islam/Christianity and thus change the basic tenets of these religions, which is outside the jurisdiction of both the Parliament and the judiciary,” he said.
According to Naidu, as Islam and Christianity don’t recognise a caste system, demand for grant of scheduled caste status to the converts is not only unjustified, unconstitutional and irrational but also difficult to implement. Naidu declared the BJP would launch an agitation against the Centre’s move to introduce reservation to the converts.
Ram Nath Kovind, chief of BJP’s front for scheduled castes, observed that if the Centre was really serious to improve the living standards of the converts, it can be done by providing some special facilities and dispensations and not by inclusion in the scheduled caste list. He claimed the appointment of the Rangnath Misra Commission was prima facie based on political considerations and if the same was accepted by the UPA government, it would be done purely on political considerations.
The party also revived its demand for the introduction of a common civil code in the country. “There should not be any problem in the launch of common civil code after reaching at an consensus,” Naidu said.
