Former BJP president Rajnath Singh at a press conference in Lucknow on Monday. — PTI |
Lucknow, January 4
Demanding scrapping of the Ranganath Mishra Commission report on reservation for minorities, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Monday said there was an “urgent need to redefine” minorities.
“The Ranganath Mishra Commission report is unconstitutional. It should be scrapped. BJP demands the government to redefine minorities with respect to district level, regional level and national level,” he told reporters here at a press conference. “In the north-east, Christians constitute a sizeable population. Considering this fact, is the minority status for the Christians there justified,” he asked.
Terming the commission report as “anti-national”, Rajnath Singh claimed that report poses a threat to nation’s unity. “It will promote religious conversions and affect the status of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes as enshrined in the Constitution.”
Blaming the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for failing to contain inflation, he said it was all due to their “wrong economic policies and economic management”.
“The ever rising inflation may also lead to law and order problems and may even result in food riots at places where the producers (farmers) are not getting an adequate price of their produce which is being sold at much higher price in the markets,” he claimed.
Rajnath Singh also accused the UPA government of being not serious towards the country’s national and internal security.
“Despite being aware of Pakistan's nefarious practices, the government has withdrawn over 30,000 troops from Kashmir. I have learnt that even military officers were against the withdrawal of the troops.” Opposing any move to grant more autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir, he said: “If there is a formation of a government in a democratic manner, there is just no need to make Jammu and Kashmir more autonomous.”
On the Copenhagen Summit, he accused the government of opening India's domestic initiatives for green house gas (GHG) emission cuts to scrutiny by international monitoring agencies and letting the developed world dilute its commitment to reducing GHG emissions. “It appears the government is acting under some international pressure,” he alleged. On the newly appointed BJP president Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh termed him a “dynamic fellow”.
“Those who know him are well aware of his potential. Even today he is being appreciated for the
work he did while he was the public works department (PWD) minister in Maharashtra. I had consulted him on several occasions,” he said.
— IANS
