Tejasvi Surya questions Karnataka governments Rs 600 crore plan for minority colonies, alleging religious discrimination, ghettoisation, and violation of Articles 14 and 15
Questioning the Karnataka government’s decision to approve Rs 600 crore for development of minorities’ colonies, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said, “Under which constitutional provision can public money be earmarked exclusively for “minority colonies” based on religion rather than for all poor and deprived localities based on objective socio-economic criteria?”
He further went on to say, “Individuals may have a religion – but since when did roads, drains, streets, and neighbourhoods acquire a religion? On what constitutional basis is the government assigning religious identity to geographies as ‘minority colonies’ and then distributing public money accordingly? Is this not active promotion of ghettoisation on religious lines by the state?” he added.
Conducted by the Election Commission of India, SIR is essentially a ground-up verification exercise to ensure that every eligible citizen is on the voter list and every ineligible or duplicate entry is removed. (Image: PTI)
“How does a Rs 600 crore religion-linked package comply with Article 14 and Article 15 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality before law and prohibit discrimination by the State on grounds of religion?” Surya questioned, adding, “If the real objective is development of backward areas, why are equally poor Hindu, Dalit, SC/ST, OBC and other underdeveloped colonies not covered under the same framework instead of creating a religion-specific scheme?”
Published By : Amrit Burman
Courtesy : News18
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