Congress appeased extremists for Muslim vote bank: Gujarat Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja

State home minister Pradipsinh Jadeja launched a blistering attack on the Congress accusing the Opposition party of indulging in appeasement politics for Muslim votes. Jadeja was speaking on a motion supporting a non government resolution on abolition of Haj subsidy by the NDA government in the House on Thursday.

He cited formation of Banerjee Commission to protect the guilty in Godhra carnage case, the Shah Bano case, and not supporting the Triple Talaq Bill in Rajya Sabha as examples of Congress’s policies to play vote-bank politics by keeping Muslim extremists happy.

Jadeja also said that Congress had started Haj subsidy only to get votes of the Muslim community.

“Fifty-five Muslim countries do not give any type of subsidy for Haj,” he said, while stating that witnessing Congress’s minority appeasement policies since childhood had inspired him to join a nationalist party like BJP.

The Haj subsidy was scrapped by the NDA government at the Centre recently.

Jadeja said that the Rs 700 crore savings because of scrapping of the subsidy would be utilised for education and empowerment of Muslim girls and women.

Congress MLA from Dariapur seat in Ahmedabad, Gayasuddin Sheikh, questioned the BJP’s new-found concern for Muslim community, and wondered if it was genuine.

He said that the money saved by abolishing the Haj subsidy should be used for welfare of women of all communities, and not just Muslims. Sheikh also demanded that like other states, a dedicated ministry for minority welfare and a commission for minorities should also be set up in Gujarat.