4.5 % reservation for Muslims: Rahul baba, Maya politics

New Delhi, December 23: Just ahead of Uttar Pradesh elections, Congress has played its minority card with the Union Cabinet on Thursday approving 4.5 per cent quota for minorities within the larger 27 per cent quota for the Other backward Classes (OBC) in central government jobs and educational institutions.

The Constitution bars reservations on religious lines; however, the government in this case is relying on Justice Sachar Committee and Ranganath Misra Commission. The two commissions have backed affirmative actions for Muslims calling their social economic status worse than even the schedule castes.

"UPA government is scared, working under fear. Now at the eve of elections, they are giving reservations to Muslim. What needs to be noticed, why now?," BSP MP Vijay Bahadur Singh said. 

The quota will come into effect from January 1, 2012.

"It is extremely dangerous for the secular fabric of the nation keeping polls in mind. One indulges in politics, with a reservation connected to it for a particular religion, I think it's unconstitutional and unpatriotic to do so," BJP MP Smriti Irani said.

Now, with Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi aggressively campaigning to regain Muslim vote bank in UP. The move is being seen as one last desperate attempt to reach out to the Muslims which constitutes nearly 18 per cent of the total electorate in UP.

Take By: Siasat News