Date:29/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/29/stories/2006122916300700.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

BJP criticised for opposing Manmohan's remark

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Thursday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party for its opposition to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark that some minorities had an unequal share of the fruits of development and that such inequities must be eradicated.

Replying to a set of questions, he said Dr. Singh had not spoken for Muslims alone but had stressed that there should be equitable growth for all minorities.

The Prime Minister had also referred to the report of a high level committee on the social, economic and educational status of the minorities, especially Muslim community of India, he pointed out.

Mr. Karunanidhi said Dr. Singh had stressed the need for removing the inequities among the Dalits in social, economic and educational sectors.

The BJP had been opposing these ideas as usual. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which had been holding the ideals of secular governance and communal harmony aloft, would never subscribe to the views of the BJP in this regard, he said.

Even when the DMK was a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance, the party succeeded in incorporating these ideals in the common minimum programme of the then BJP-led Government, he recalled.

To another query on Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee's fast against the car project in Singur in West Bengal, Mr. Karunanidhi said growth of the farm sector and industrial development should go hand in hand.