New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday attacked the Karnataka government over its decision to reserve four per cent of government contracts for Muslims, stating it as unconstitutional, alleging that it is part of the Congress' appeasement politics and weakens the national unity, PTI reported.
Addressing a press conference, BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, of seeking to lead the Congress in the competitive vote bank politics among opposition parties. He claimed that Gandhi is behind the Karnataka government's decision for quota for Muslim contractors as Chief Minister Siddharamaiah does not have the courage or political capital to make the decision.
The announcement of separate quotas in government contracts for Muslims has given a new dimension to the communal and vote bank politics, he said.
Such a decision, the former law minister said, may seem small, but developments like these have serious national implications.
Prasad asked if there is any limit to such competitive appeasement politics and if separate queues for Muslims to buy cinema and train tickets will come next.
He said such a decision also weakens the voice of those Muslims who are against such politics and stand for the country's development.
Prasad said several demands, including separate voting, for exclusive treatment of Muslims during the independence movement had finally ended up in the country's division.
He said the Supreme Court has emphatically spoken against religion-based reservations and expressed confidence that the decision of the Congress government in Karnataka will be challenged in court.
Asking if Gandhi understood the Constitution, he said other Congress-run states may also follow the example of Karnataka. The BJP will oppose it, he added.
The Constitution makes provision for reservation on the grounds of social and education backwardness, and Muslims, too, have benefitted under it in different states, he said.