Congress using Muslims as vote bank through quota, says BJP

The Jharkhand unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday alleged that the central government's decision to give 4.5% reservation to minorities was nothing but a move to use Muslims as vote bank in the upcoming elections in five states.

"Giving 4.5% reservation to minorities is a poll plank of the Congress and it wants to use Muslims as vote banks in the polls in the five states," said Raghubar Das, former deputy chief minister and a BJP legislator.

"Reservations on religious ground are unconstitutional. This is deceiving the Muslims."

"Why is the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance)  government sitting over the recommendations of the Sachar and Ranganath Mishra committee reports?" asked Das.

"The BJP is chalking out a strategy to hit the roads in Jharkhand against the central UPA government's decision to accord reservations to minorities in name of religion," he added.