Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: The Congress, which is on a downslide, has gone back to its old tactics to woo the minority community. In the middle of the ongoing General Elections the grand old party has released an additional manifesto promising quota for Muslims hailing from other backward classes (OBC), a newspaper report said on Friday.
In an attempt to outreach the minority community, which comprises 20 percent of the Indian population, the Congress has come forward with its additional manifesto, which talks about “empowerment of minorities”.
The grand old party, whose poll prospects are seemingly bleak in the ongoing parliamentary elections, has said that "it will work towards earmarking a quota of 4.5 percent for backward Muslims in the existing OBC reservations," the report stated.
In its original manifesto, the ruling government had talked about quota for backward Muslims.
Meanwhile, reacting to Congress` manifesto, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy described as unconstitutional the move to create a quota for Muslims hailing from other backward classes.
"This is unconstitutional. It is nowhere written in the Constitution that there must be reservation based on religion. Giving Muslims reservation based on backward class is wrong. Congress is manipulating Muslims," Swamy said.
