Kerala - Kochi   

LDF policy is to divide society, says Ravi

Staff Reporter

Ruling front's stance on self-financing colleges issue flayed

Vayalar Ravi

Kochi: Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi on Saturday said that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government's attitude towards the minorities in the self-financing college issue would only divide society on religious grounds and create social tensions in the State.

Inaugurating a seminar on Minority Rights and Education organised by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Minority Cell, Mr. Ravi said the recent controversy over the definition of the minority status in the Kerala professional colleges Act would only help strengthen Hindutva forces in the State. The Act had really done away with the rights of the minorities guaranteed in the Constitution, he said.

The Supreme Court had time and again ruled that the basic structure of the Constitution could not be altered. The fundamental rights, including the rights of minorities, constituted one of the basic structures of the Constitution.

He accused the LDF Government of adopting a vindictive attitude toward minority educational institutions.

Mr. Ravi said it was recently that the minorities had started asserting their rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government established the National Commission for Minority Education because the States ruled by different parties had shown different attitudes towards the grant of minority status to educational institutions.

Former Education Minister E.T. Mohammed Basheer said the UPA Government had taken certain bold steps to implement the rights of minorities and backward classes. The national minority education Act and the provision for reservation for backward classes in the higher education institutions were among the achievements of the Government, he said.

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