Muslims will not be given reservation on basis of religion, it's unconstitutional : Amit Shah in Lok Sabha

Advocacy of quota for Muslim women in Parliament and Assemblies by Samajwadi Party's Dharmendra Yadav met with strong opposition from Home Minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha on Thursday, as he said reservation on the basis of religion will be unconstitutional and such a question does not arise.

The exchange took place when Opposition MPs were objecting to the introduction of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill for early implementation of 33 per cent quota after a delimitation based on Census 2011 and two linked Bills.

Opposing the introduction of the Bills, Yadav said the draft legislations were "destroying and dismantling" the Constitution and claimed that linking delimitation with women's quota is against the spirit of the Constitution.

"In the name of the Women's Bill, the government wants to do across India what it did in Kashmir and Assam (through delimitation). The entire Opposition will oppose it. If there is no quota for OBC women, Muslim women, the Samajwadi Party will not support it. We want the Bill to be withdrawn," he said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju immediately objected to it saying there is no provision for reservation on the basis of religion. "Why just Muslim women, the entire women folk of the country should get the benefits," he said.

Terming Yadav's demand as unconstitutional, Shah said the Indian Constitution does not allow reservation in the name of religion. "I want to make it clear our government's resolve that Muslims will not be given any kind of reservation on the basis of religion. That question does not arise," he said.

When Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh also referred to Muslim women, Shah shot back, "if the Samajwadi Party gives all its tickets to Muslim women, where do we have any objection, we have no objections at all."

He also rejected suggestions by Akhilesh that the government was running away from Caste Census, saying a decision to carry out the caste census has already been taken and would be carried out along with the population enumeration.

"Right now, the counting of households is underway and the households do not have any caste. If the Samajwadi Party had its way, they would determine the caste of households as well," he said, adding that during the population enumeration, the census authorities would keep a provision for caste enumeration.

"I want to make it clear that this census will be conducted along with caste enumeration," he said, while adding that the Census exercise have already started.