Incentivising conversion to Islam: BJP MPs slam Karnataka govt over state's reservation bill

"A secular State cannot take such a measure...This is to provide contracts to people associated with the banned PFI (Popular Front of India) and KFD (Karnataka Forum for Dignity), who are sitting idle," Tejasvi Surya said.

New Delhi: The issue of the Bill of Congress-led Karnataka government proposing 4 per cent reservation to Muslims in government contracts was raised in Lok Sabha on Wednesday with BJP MPs demanding its withdrawal, alleging that the move was aimed at partitioning the country.

Both MPs Nishikant Dubey and Tejasvi Surya demanded the rollback of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (Amendment) Bill, even as Opposition MPs objected to the raising of the issue.

Tejasvi Surya, Bengaluru South MP, claimed that the Congress government in Karnataka was incentivising religious conversion to Islam through this Bill.

"A secular State cannot take such a measure...This is to provide contracts to people associated with the banned PFI (Popular Front of India) and KFD (Karnataka Forum for Dignity), who are sitting idle," he said.

Dubey claimed the Congress' decision to form provincial governments in alliance with the Muslim League in 1937 had led to the partition of India on religious lines in 1947.

"Today, by furthering the demand for Caste Census and giving away government contracts in the name of religion, Congress wants to divide India again for the sake of vote bank," he alleged.

Congress governments in Karnataka and Telangana were carving out reservations for Muslims from quotas meant for OBCs, he claimed while adding that Congress and other Opposition parties want to extend quotas to Muslims and destroy the social harmony in the country.

He added that the Constitution does not allow any discrimination in the name of religion and urged the Centre to bring a law to end the appeasement politics of the opposition parties.

As the MPs raised the issue in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said the issue is serious and the minister concerned would be apprised of it.