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"Minority plan a dangerous course"

Special Correspondent

Will harm Muslims, says BJP Minority Morcha chief

JAIPUR: The national president of Bharatiya Janata Party's Minority Morcha, Tanveer Haider Usmani, on Tuesday described the Prime Minister's renewed 15-point programme for minorities as a "dangerous course'' which he said would divide the society and harm Muslims and the country in the long run.

Mr. Usmani, who was here to attend a preparatory meeting for the Minority Morcha's national executive session scheduled for July-end, accused the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre of adopting double standards for development of minorities by making "false promises'' and singling them out for "cheap gimmicks''.

"There is an all-out competition between the Congress and other so-called secular parties to win over Muslims, who are nothing more than a consolidated vote bank for them,'' Mr. Usmani told reporters at the BJP State headquarters here. He said the UPA had no vision to bring minorities to the mainstream of development and stop appeasing them.

Mr. Usmani charged that the UPA Government was not able to view development beyond religious boundaries because its constituents included communal elements such as the Indian Union Muslim League. "The Muslim League was responsible for partition of the country. IUML is infested with the leaders of the same mentality,'' he said.

The Minority Morcha chief affirmed that the BJP viewed Muslims and all other minorities as equal citizens of the country who were entitled to get their share in all initiatives for development.

He claimed that minorities were secure in the BJP-ruled States, including Rajasthan, and were making "fast progress''.

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