The Hindu : National : Quota for Muslims dangerous: Swamy

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Wednesday, Jun 22, 2005

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Quota for Muslims dangerous: Swamy

Special Correspondent

"Appreciating Jinnah's secularism is like appreciating Hitler's vegetarianism"

CHENNAI: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy has criticised the Andhra Pradesh Government's decision to provide five per cent reservation for Muslims in employment and education.

Describing the decision as a "dangerous development," Dr. Swamy said it was against national interest and would sow the seeds of "further partition" like the separate electorate instituted by British rulers in 1919.

Talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, Dr. Swamy said that reservation was an antidote for socially deprived or discriminated classes such as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Hindu community and not to those (Muslims and Christians) who were the ruling class in the country.

Asked whether he concurred with the view of Bharatiya Janata Party president L. K. Advani that Jinnah was a secularist, Dr. Swamy said that he was unaware of Mr. Advani's statement. "But I am of the view that appreciating Jinnah's secularism is like appreciating Hitler's vegetarianism. One cannot appreciate Hitler just because he was a vegetarian." However, he said that this was not a reaction to Mr. Advani's statement.

Economy in "reverse gear"

Charging that Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had put the country's economy in "reverse gear," Dr. Swamy urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack him in the interest of the country. He said that according to a study conducted by the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Sivaganga was the poorest district in Tamil Nadu.

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