For long, the Congress party is being accused of appeasing the minority communities. But this time, blatantly and unashamedly, they have gone beyond this point. For the first time in Indian polity, the ruling party has used the word ?Muslim?, which means for them, now the word minority is only confined to Muslims. A high-level committee under the Prime Minister'sOffice was constituted under Sachar, to study the condition and status of Muslims. Till now, when we talked of minority, it included Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Jains and even neo-Buddhists. But for the first time, this Committee studied the condition and status of only Muslims.
Very disturbing facts have been brought to light by this Committee, which Congress should be ashamed of and especially the parties that have been the protagonists of Muslims should be abashed by this. The worst condition of the Muslims has been shown in states ruled long by the Congress, Leftists and the RJD.
In Bihar, for about 15 years the RJD ruled and Communists have been ruling in West Bengal for the last 30 years and the worst condition of the Muslims has been shown in these states. So, the first question the Congress has to answer is: Who is responsible for this state of affairs? Out of the 60 years of Independence, the Congress has ruled at the Centre nearly than 50 years. So, if anybody is to be blamed, it is this party.
Much more efforts have gone into the Sachar Committee, but in the wrong direction and with a biased mind. It is strange to note that instead of saying something positive for the family planning, the Committee has come up with the recommendations and suggestions that if the family planning is adopted by the Muslims, their population will go down, which will affect them adversely, politically. However, at one point of time, the Committee has also said that if the number of the Muslims does not go down, then by 2050, the Muslims and Christians will outnumber the Hindus. So, what does the Committee want to say? Are they scaring Hindus that you don'tadopt the family planning or else you will be outnumbered by the Muslims and Christians? Or are they suggesting the Muslims not to adopt family planning otherwise their population will go down, which will affect them adversely?
Chapter after chapter, when one studies this report, the bias is very obvious. One thing is very strange, that is when the bill for reservation in educational institutions was passed, the minority institutions were exempted. When we opposed this, the logic given was that there is no caste system among the Muslims or the Christians. Then why are they asking that the ?dalit? Muslims and ?dalit? Christians should be given reservation in employment? In fact, this is the suggestion of the Sachar Committee. Sachar Committee has said that the ?dalit? Muslims should be included in the reservation quota for SCs. When there is no caste system in Muslim community and on this basis there should not be any reservation in the minority educational institutions, then why should there be ?dalit? Muslims at all and why should there be reservation for ?dalit? Muslims in employment? So, these things are contradictory. But they are very shamelessly doing it.
On the one hand, they are exempting the minority educational institutions, and on the other hand, they are demanding reservation for ?dalit? Muslims in employment. Similarly, reservation on the basis of religion is unconstitutional; it is against the spirit of the Constitution. The Constitution recognises reservation only for SCs, STs and educationally or socially backward classes. It negates the reservation on religious basis.
For the first time, this UPA government has advocated reservation on religious basis. Andhra Pradesh government, ruled by the Congress, provided for five per cent reservation for Muslims, though the High Court of Andhra Pradesh declared it unconstitutional and the government appeal in the Supreme Court against that order also lost. Likewise, there is 50 per cent reservation for Muslims in Aligarh Muslim University and in Assam five per cent reservation in Police. So, for the first time reservation on religious basis is being provided by this government.
Actually, whenever a government takes over, it sets a target and also sets a direction. This government has set a target not on minority vote-bank but on Muslim vote-bank. Therefore, they have set the direction also of reservation, of constituting committees, etc.
One way or the other, they want to target the Muslim vote-bank. But they are in a dilemma, as they are not going to be benefitted by this, because there are parties, which are speaking louder than them such as RJD, Left and SP for the same vote-bank.
However, the foreign policy is totally contradictory to this domestic policy of the Congress. They are having nuclear deal with the US and on Saddam Hussein also they are speaking with their tongue in the cheek. A person or a party, which is leaning towards the US in foreign affairs, can never be a favourite of Indian Muslims. But they are in a dilemma. On the front of foreign policy, they are toeing the line of US, which is anathema to the Indian Muslims?. On the home front, the Congress wants to woo the Muslims and ultimately the Congress is not going to get anything. Also their allies are very much tilted towards Muslim vote-bank and they also don'twant to lose the Muslim vote and they think unless and until that Muslim vote-bank comes back to them, from which they have been getting support for 40 years, they will not be in power again. This is the predicament, this government is faced with.
But the dangerous part of this policy is that it impinges on and impedes the national unity. Also because of this policy, they are adopting a soft line on terror. Nobody imagined that there could be two opinions in the ruling party over Afzal'scapital punishment. The whole country is one on this issue but the government is saying no, it will annoy the Indian Muslims. This is not true, because to say that it will annoy the Indian Muslims is like saying that the Indian Muslims are with terrorists. It is not true. Not only are they not executing the capital punishment, they have removed POTA, when countries all over the world are framing anti-terror laws. We enacted this law but UPA removed it, tagging it as anti-Muslim.
Similarly, for the first time in India'spolitical history our Prime Minister said that Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism. This soft line on terror is also the result of the appeasement policy, which threatens national unity.
Therefore, the BJP in its last national executive launched a movement, which is not only against appeasement policy but also for national unity because we want to awaken the people of India. We want to tell the people of India that this policy is not only wrong, this is dangerous too. This policy will shape the national security and national unity. Therefore, for a month from January 16, our district and state units will be taking up people-awakening programmes, which will certainly bear fruit and the people of India will put pressure on this government against its policy. And if the government does not yield to this pressure and mend its policy, then the people will throw out this government in the next election.
(The writer is Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha.)
