The great Congress ideology!

Power first, country afterwards
From Our Special Correspondent

As BJP President, Shri Rajnath Singh, has said, Congress is the greatest communal organisation in the country whose policies and actions have always been motivated by communal considerations. It has all along indulged in the policy of appeasement of certain communities in furtherance of its vote bank politics. In the last 20 months the Manmohan Singh-led Government has given a new impetus to this policy detrimental to the interests of the nation. Here is a list of its misdeeds.

 

 

1. Shortly after assuming office, the UPA Government abrogated the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). In the absence of POTA and its provisions, if the attack on Parliament were to recur, it would be far more difficult to punish the terrorists.

2. In November 2004, the UPA restored Haj subsidies on tax-paying, wealthy Muslims. Religious pilgrimages undertaken by one community – irrespective of the income of the pilgrim – are subsidised by the public exchequer.

3. The Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh introduced a 5 percent reservation to Muslims on religious basis. This decision has been set aside by the courts as unconstitutional. The Government has gone in appeal.

4. In 2005, the Government validated 50 per cent reservation for Muslims in post-graduate courses at Aligarh Muslim University, on the pretext that the university was a “minority institution”. It took the Allahabad High Court to point out the fallacy of this logic.

5. While moving the 104th Constitutional Amendment providing for reservation for the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes in private colleges, the government kept minority-run colleges out of the amendment’s ambit.

The burden of social uplift of India’s underprivileged sections must be borne exclusively by Hindu educational bodies. Why have Muslim (and Christian) educational bodies been granted exemption from this national duty?

6. In July 2005, the Supreme Court struck down the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, which was applicable only to Assam and gave the Government powers to identify and expel illegal migrants.

Now, on the eve of elections in Assam, the UPA government is amending the Foreigner’s Act, specifically for Assam, and bringing in the IMDT Act into operation by the backdoor disregarding court verdict.

7. When the census figures indicated the Muslim population in India was growing at a rate faster than other communities, the UPA government silenced the census commissioner – and released manipulated statistics to hide the truth.

8. In May 2005, the Congress President attended a function organised by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind in Delhi. The Jamiat openly demanded reservation for Muslims in Parliament, in jobs and in education. It called for the release of POTA internees in Gujarat.
In response, Smt. Sonia Gandhi only pointed out the historical links between the Congress and the Jamiat.

9. The Sachar Committee asked the Army to conduct a survey of how many Muslim soldiers and officers it had. This outrageous demand was revoked only after vehement protests and opposition to the step by retired army personnel and citizens all over the country.

10. Not satisfied with the many committees and programmes for Muslim welfare that it has instituted, this government has now given India an omnibus Ministry for Minority Affairs. It has institutionalised Muslim separatism in governance.

11. Even the President of India’s speech to Parliament was not spared the virus of minority appeasement. It announced that a “new 15-point Programme for Minorities is under preparation”.

12. The government of India protested to the government of Denmark because some newspapers there carried cartoons that Muslim groups objected to. Why does it never bother to protest when Hindu deities and venerated symbols are insulted in Greece, when Hindus suffer hate crimes in Russia or when an artist paints a nude portrait of Bharat Mata?

13. Not content with appeasement politics, the government has now resorted to appeasement economics. In this year’s Budget, it has announced Muslim-specific specific measures, including Rs. 200 crore under the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, and Rs. 13 crore for Urdu.

Is all this good for India’s unity and integrity? Justifying his government’s foreign policy, the prime minister says it is born out of “enlightened national interest”. Can he not follow the same principle at home?