Advani said more Cong leaders should honestly introspect like A.K. Antony did
Lauding senior Congress leader A.K. Antony’s for admitting that his party’s secularism was slanted in favour of minorities, BJP veteran L.K. Advani on Sunday said the saffron party now stands vindicated regarding its position on the issue.
Mr Advani said while there “is already a perceptible change in the way minority communities have been looking at the Narendra Modi government,” BJP should “consolidate the trend of minorities voting for BJP.” He also asked party leaders to “make the categories of majority and minority completely irrelevant while fully safeguarding people’s rights and freedoms to follow their respective religions.”
Addressing party’s first time MPs on the concluding day of the training session ahead of the coming budget session of Parliament, Mr Advani lauded the “honest soul-searching” by Mr Antony and hoped that more Congress leaders would back his stand. He also hinted that Congress may not get the position of the official Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, saying that the party does not have the numbers required for the same.
Taking a dig at Congress, Mr Advani said, “I hope more and more Congress leaders endorse what Antony has said, leading to a change in Congress’s approach to secularism... As far as our party is concerned, there is already a perceptible change in the way minority communities have been looking at the Narendra Modi government.”
Mr Antony had recently said that Congress’s secularism was slanted in favour of the minority community and that had led to the majority being alienated from the party. He had also called for introspection on Congress’s policy regarding secularism.