The Congress today agreed with Vice President Hamid Ansari's plea for an "affirmative action" towards minorities.
The Congress today agreed with Vice President Hamid Ansari's plea for an "affirmative action" towards minorities, saying that there was nothing wrong with the comment.
"Yes. Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas is an article of faith with us. It is not a slogan," he said, adding that the party was for a "non-discriminatory inclusive approach," said Abhishek Singhvi, party leader and spokesperson.
The Congress said that when the previous UPA government was in power, it had set up the Sachar Committee which looked into the socio-economic status of the minorities.
Mr Singhvi said, "I don't think anyone in the Congress is apologetic about it."
A few days ago, the Vice President had referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's key development mantra to argue in favour of quota. He said, "The official objective of Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas is commendable; a pre-requisite for this is affirmative action (where necessary) to ensure a common starting point and an ability in all to walk at the required pace."
The comments were widely criticised by the BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the BJP's ideological mentor.
The Congress did not give much importance to the issue of RSS raising the issue of Ram Mandir with the BJP. The party said that the issue is raised only during elections, after which the BJP always says that the construction of the temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya was not on its agenda.