By Girish Kumar Dubey
Senior leader of India's main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Murali Manohar Joshi criticised the proposed 'Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011' in Varanasi city, India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Monday (September 12).
While addressing mediapersons, Joshi said the proposed draft is likely to divide the country on communal lines and it was against the basic structure of the Indian constitution.
"This law (Communal Violence Bill) will divide the society and the country. It will lead to violence and disturbance all across the country. It is against the basic structure of the Indian constitution, which promotes secularism. In any secular constitution can you make any laws or discriminate based on religion. Here the government itself is discriminating through this law," said Joshi.
He asserted that an individual should not be judged on the basis of his religion and that the Indian constitution declares India as a secular country.
Joshi also stressed that with this bill, the federal government would have the authority to intervene into any state government's matter, which is facing a threat of violence on the basis of religion.
The senior BJP leader also questioned the validity of the bill as he said that it was the brainchild of Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi and didn't originate from any government institution.
The Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Regulations) Bill 2011, seeks to protect various groups from communal riots.
It has proposed to define the victim groups as 'religious and linguistic minority, in any state in India, or Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes'.
Senior leader of India's main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Murali Manohar Joshi criticizes the proposed 'Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011' in Varanasi city, India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (SEPTEMBER 12, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC)
1. MURLI MANOHAR JOSHI, SENIOR LEADER OF INDIA'S MAIN OPPOSITION, BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY ARRIVING TO ADDRESS MEDIAPERSONS
2. JOSHI SPEAKING TO MEDIAPERSONS
3. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi), MURLI MANOHAR JOSHI, SENIOR LEADER OF INDIA'S MAIN OPPOSITION, BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY SAYING:
"This law (Communal Violence Bill) will divide the society and the country. It will lead to violence and disturbance all across the country. It is against the basic structure of the Indian constitution, which promotes secularism. In any secular constitution can you make any laws or discriminate based on religion. Here the government itself is discriminating through this law."
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