Athawale condemns Shiv Sena over Muslim voting rights row

The Republican Party of India led by Ramdas Athawale today joined other political parties in lambasting Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's statement that Muslims should be disenfranchised.
RPI is a part of the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena coalition in Maharashtra.
"Shiv Sena should remember that by demanding that voting rights of Muslims should be taken away they are violating the Constitution of India that gives equal rights to all the citizens. Every citizen is entitled to cast his vote irrespective of the caste or religion," said Athawale, a Rajya Sabha MP, here.
Equality for every citizen in all spheres of life ensures that democracy and peace prevails in the country, he said.

"Since he (Raut) has gone against the Constitution, his remarks should be condemned in the strongest possible way," Athawale said.
Raut, in an article in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', had said that the voting rights of Muslims should be revoked as the community has often been used to play the vote bank politics, and "secular masks" of all the so-called secular political parties will fall off if this happens.