Dehra Dun: Hitting out at Union Law Minister
Salman Khurshid for his statement on providing reservation to
Muslims within the OBC quota, VHP on Tuesday said it would launch a
nationwide agitation against the Centre's proposed move.
"The Central government's proposal is not acceptable at
any cost because the Constitution does not allow religion-
based reservation," VHP's international general secretary
Praveen Togadia told reporters.
In a significant move ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly
polls, Khurshid on December 1 had said the government would
soon take a decision on providing six per cent reservation for
"backward Muslims" by including them in the 27 per cent OBC
quota and a proposal in this regard would soon come up before
Cabinet.
VHP leaders from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have
converged in Rishikesh and the final strategy for the
nationwide agitation on the issue would be taken soon, he
said.
Togadia said the Andhra Pradesh government and Aligarh
Muslim University had also made similar attempts in the past
but their decisions were struck down by the High Courts
concerned.
Moreover, the VHP leader said, the basis of reservation
under OBC is caste and Islam does not believe in casteism.
"If the Muslims accept reservation under OBC, it would
also mean that they are accepting caste system like Hindus and
in that case, the Muslims should embrace the Hindu religion by
renouncing Islam," Togadia said.
Referring to reservation for Christians, he said, the VHP
demands to exclude Christians from Scheduled Tribe category
under which they are getting reservation.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 06, 2011, 16:22