Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday sought to dispel apprehensions of members of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board on issues related to inclusion of their educational institutions under the Right To Education, saying minority institutions would be kept out of RTE purview. “The Centre has in principle agreed to keep minority institutions out of the purview of RTE while discussions were on regarding other issues related to the Direct Taxes Code Bill.
No decision has been taken though,” he said. Mr Singh made the comments when his attention was drawn to some members of the AIMPLB expressing their views in media which could go against the party in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.“Congress is ready for a dialogue if the issue is connected with the religious belief or with a place of religious importance,” he said referring to the Waqf Property Bill.
The Congress in-charge of UP lashed out at the BJP over its agitation against what they termed reservation on religious grounds saying the sub-quota of 4.5per cent within the OBC quota was not new but part of the Mandal Commission recommendation which is already in force.
“When the UPA government found that onlyaround one per cent Muslims got its benefit in the past 22 years, it decided on a sub-quota to do away with this injustice,“ Mr Singh said, adding that the same had also been prom ised in the election manifesto of 2009.
Alleging that the only intention of the BJP was to create communal frenzy, Singh said there was no confusion in the minds of the people that the politics of the saffron party starts and ends on communal agenda.
On BJP president Nitin Gadkari terming firebrand leader Uma Bharati a capable leader, Mr Singh said he had “full sympathy” with state BJP leaders like Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Vinay Katiyar and Surya Pratap Shahi who had given their lives in strengthening the party in Uttar Pradesh.Quota pledge is nothing new Digvijay lashed out at the BJP over its agitation against what they termed reservation on religious grounds, saying the subquota of 4.5 per cent within the OBC quota was not new but part of the Mandal Commission recommendation, which is already in force.