Up Sp Cries Do Or Die Against Regulation Bill

THE SAMAJWADI Party on Thursday gave its UP workers the slogan of "Do or Die" to protest against the controversial Uttar Pradesh Regulation of Religious Buildings and Places Bill.

The SP has called upon its workers all over the State to hold protest dharnas and rallies at the district headquarters on April 4 to force the Government to withdraw the Bill. A delegation of SP MPs, headed by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, has also submitted a memorandum to the President urging him to refuse his assent to the Bill.

Mr Ahmad Hasan, leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Parishad, while addressing media persons today said that the Bill violated the constitutional guarantee to the religious minorities to run their schools and religious places. "This is the first attempt by the BJP-led Government to muzzle the religious rights of the minorities", he said while demanding its withdrawal.

 

Referring to the Government's contention that the Bill was brought to check the ISI activities on UP-Nepal border, Mr Hasan asked the Government to specifically name the mosques or madrasas involved in the ISI activities. "We demand that the Government deal firmly with the anti-national elements but not curb our religious freedom", he said.

Mr Hasan sharply criticised the Congress for enacting a similar law in Madhya Pradesh in 1984 when Mr Arjun Singh was heading a Congress Government. He criticised the UP Congress president Mr Salman Khursheed for his silence when the Babri mosque was demolished. "It was Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, a Hindu, who had saved the mosque from demolition in 1990", he asserted.

Mr Hasan said that the ministers of the Government including Mr Lalji Tandon and Mr Hukum Singh had failed to give specific instances of religious places of minorities involved in anti-national activities. "We will continue our struggle against the Bill in spite of their threats", he said.