Lucknow: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday sought to dispel apprehension 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 government has in principle agreed to keep minority institutions out of the purview of RTE while discussions were on regarding other issue related to the Direct Taxes Code Bill though no decision has been taken," he told reporters here.
He 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 concerned with the place of religious importance," he said referring to the Waqf Property Bill.
The Congress leader incharge of UP affairs lashed out at the BJP over its agitation against what they termed reservation on religious grounds saying that the sub-quota of 4.5 per 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 only around one per cent Muslims got its benefit in the past 22 years, it decided on a sub-quota to do away with this injustice," Singh said, adding that the same had also been promised 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 Bharti as a capable leader, Singh said he had "full sympathy" with state leaders like Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Vinay Katiyar and Surya Pratap Shahi who have given their lives in strengthening the party in UP.
"Now, Gadkari has told them that you all are useless and Uma, who had used derogatory language against Advani, broke the party and lost her deposit in election from Tikamgarh, is capable," Singh said.
Referring to Gadkari projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, he said that Advani should be worried about it.
Earlier, several Muslim religious leaders, including AIMPLB member Syed Athar Ali extended support to the Congress in the coming elections.
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