The Opposition parties on Friday sought to puncture the Narendra Modi government’s slogan of “Sabka saath, sabka vikas” by pointing to the drastic reduction in the allocation for minority welfare, the closure of fellowship schemes and the inaction against rising cases of hate speeches by BJP leaders.
The Opposition MPs were speaking on a private member’s resolution moved by Abdul Wahab of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for a law to prevent atrocities against minorities.
Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi said there had been a 38 per cent reduction in the allocation for the ministry of minority affairs in the budget.
The allocation has dropped from Rs 5,020 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 3,097 crore for 2023-24. He said BJP leaders were giving hate speeches against the minorities, particularly Muslims.
“One MP asked people to economically boycott the Muslims. No action has been taken. After the Prime Minister talked about the dignity of women from the ramparts of the Red Fort, the convicts in the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members were released from jail. How is it Sabka saath, sabka vikas (Solidarity with all, development for all)?” Pratapgarhi said.
In October 2022, BJP MP Parvesh Verma had exhorted a crowd to economically boycott Muslims to teach them a lesson. BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur at a public meeting last month asked Hindus to keep weapons ready to counter those involved in love jihad.
Pratapgarhi criticised sections of the media for fanning communal sentiments in their programmes. One channel had broadcast a programme on “UPSC jihad” in 2020, he pointed out.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Jha said the situation had aggravated with leaders publicly saying that protesters could be identified by their dress, referring to Prime Minister Modi’s comment during the movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2020.
Jha said several Muslim students had been arrested on frivolous charges and jailed for years. “Students are being made scapegoats. How will you compensate the period they spend in jail?” he said.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath is known as “Bulldozer baba” because of the demolition drive his government often unleashes on people in the name of violation of construction rules before waiting for court judgments, Jha said, adding that it was a matter of concern that such steps were celebrated. “Mob lynching and hate crimes have increased in the last eight to nine years,” he said.
Samajwadi Party leader Javed Ali Khan said the NDA government had decided to discontinue the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students for doing research.
The government defended the decision by saying the scheme was overlapping with other research programmes.
The government, however, has not discontinued the special fellowships for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes despite overlap with the Junior Research Fellowship, which caters to all sections.
The government has revised the pre-matric scholarship for minority students by limiting the benefit to students of Class IX to XII. Till last year, students of Class I to Class XII were getting the benefits.
The Sachar Committee Report of 2006 had said the condition of Muslims in India was worse than SCs and STs, Wahab pointed out in his resolution.
According to the report, one-fourth of Muslim children in the age group of 6-14 years had either never attended school or were dropouts, Wahab said. BJP leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao opposed the resolution, saying the Sachar panel was a communal exercise.
“It was an exercise to appease the minorities. Our government runs welfare schemes without any discrimination. We believe in Sabka saath sabka vikas,” Rao said.
The discussion remained inconclusive and will be taken up on a future date.