New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday claimed that the All India Ulema Board has written a letter to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) offering its support and had made several ‘divisive proposals’, including 10% reservation for Muslims in employment, opposition to the Waqf Bill and a ban on the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
However, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole categorically denied receiving any such letter. Former Law Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad while addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi said, “In the letter the Board had stated that if Nana Patole (Congress), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP) and other parties want their support they will have to fulfil their demands.”
#WATCH | Delhi: BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad says, “Rahul Gandhi always talks about the Constitution…Religion-based reservation is not permissible under the constitution…Rahul Gandhi, the BJP would like to know because any reservation on religious grounds is prohibited. How… pic.twitter.com/2EdqUGgaqR
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Prasad charged, “The Ulema also demanded a ban on RSS, to which Patole responded that they will think about it.”
Stating that these demands were a “charter for the dissolution of the country”, Prasad asked if Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge had ever read the Constitution before accepting such divisive proposals. He expressed concern over the response from the Maharashtra Congress, who, he claimed had “pledged to consider the demands after forming the next government in the state.”
The BJP leader also dragged Uddhav Thackeray into the issue and asked, “Has he forgotten his legacy”. As for NCP leader Sharad Pawar, the BJP leader said he is a “respectable leader in Maharashtra politics” and wondered why he was allowing himself to be seen on the side of such a “dissolution demand” as seeking 10% jobs for Muslims will take away the rights of the OBCs, SCs and STs.
Prasad also asked if Gandhi was aware that religion-based reservation is strictly prohibited by the Constitution. Citing a 9-judge bench Supreme Court decision in the Indra Sawhney case concerning the Mandal Commission, he said, “any reservation based on religion is against the law” and “the Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste and sex.”
