Lucknow: BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday charged the Narendra Modi government with attempting to strip AMU and Jamia Millia Islamia of their minority status and termed the move as "communally and politically motivated".
"The BJP-led central government is out to strip these institutions of their minority status which they got after a lot of struggle and this narrow mentality lowers the prestige of the country...this is like an attempt to make students belonging to religious minorities orphans," Mayawati told reporters here.
"This communally motivated step of the BJP government is actually politically motivated," she said, adding it was aimed at polarising its vote bank before the coming Assembly elections in some states, including Uttar Pradesh. By dividing the votes on caste and communal lines, BJP wants to serve the purpose of Samajwadi Party along with its own, she alleged, contesting the rationale being given for depriving these institutions of minority status.
"We disagree with the logic that by doing so Dalits and OBCs will get reservation in these institutions," she said, adding Dalits consider religious minorities as their own because they are the ones who had converted in protest against the disparity in Hindu system and BSP always favoured reservation for them.
The BSP chief said if the BJP government is so concerned about the welfare of Dalits and OBCs, it should improve the condition of primary and secondary schools all over the country so children from these sections get education.
"If they are so concerned about children of these sections they should introduce reservation in private sector schools so that they are uplifted, but, instead of taking positive steps they are out to follow the policy of confrontation with a view to polarising votes," she said.
It is unfortunate and shows the difference between "kathni and karni" (words and deeds) of the prime minister and the BJP government, she added.
