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Go in appeal, Congress asks Mulayam

K.V. Prasad

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday expressed surprise at the Allahabad High Court decision that Muslims were no longer a minority in Uttar Pradesh, and urged Chief Minister Mulayam Singh to go in appeal immediately.

Party spokesperson and Union Minister Kapil Sibal said that he was a "little surprised" at the judgment since the law was settled by an 11-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in the Inamdar case.

He said the apex court ruled that in the case of regional minority, State should be taken as a unit and it could not be applied constituency-wise. The 11-judge Bench order should have been brought before the High Court, he said.

Proceed

The U.P. Government should proceed without wasting time in the midst of elections; it was not just a matter of constitutional debate but also of politics and all the more reason for exercising greater caution, he said. The Congress would do whatever was required to get the order nullified, Mr. Sibal assured Muslims.

Another Congress leader Veerappa Moily said it was not possible to make such a categorisation as there were national, regional and linguistic minorities.

Communist Party of India national secretary D. Raja said the order had to be challenged. "It is not a question of arithmetic but beyond it."

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