Who are the minority? BJP wants a definition

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday accused the UPA Government of minority appeasement and asked it to define the term “minority”.

"I request the government to legally define the term minority and also appropriately determine in what spheres it would be applicable," said BJP president Rajnath Singh at the party’s national council meeting in Delhi.

"Various court judgments are also echoing questions such as who is a minority, on what basis and in which region and this takes different connotations depending upon the prevailing situation and the geographical area in different parts of the country," he said while claiming that there confusion over the term.

Singh criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for allegedly saying that minorities should have the first claim on national resources and claimed that he had introduced "communal budgeting" in the 11th Five Year Plan.

The BJP, if it returns to power at the Centre, would discontinue with the scheme of allocating more funds to minority-dominated districts.

"The BJP believes that every section of the society must be developed. Any attempt to communally colour development is condemnable," Singh said.

Singh said while the allocation of funds for minorities has gone up from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,400 crore, there was a two per cent slash in the funds for development of Scheduled Castes and other backward sections.

"This is injustice with the backward and deserved segments," he said.

Singh was aggressive on the Ram Setu issue and denounced the Government for questioning the existence of Lord Ram and demanded an apology from it to the nation for insulting Hindu religion and culture.

"Even during the period of direct foreign rule, the British and the Mughal government even under Aurangazeb, could not dare to say what this democratically elected government of independent India has done," he said.