Wrong to say Cong appeases Muslims or that it ignored Antony panel's findings: R.C. Khuntia

Bhubaneswar, April 7 (IANS) A decade after the A.K. Antony Committee cautioned the Congress on electoral risks of its perceived “minority-appeasement policy”, the panel’s former member R.C. Khuntia on Monday admitted that despite its secular stand, the party has failed to bag sizeable minority votes as these get divided among different parties.

Refusing to be drawn into the debate whether the Grand Old Party’s perceived minority-appeasement policy was proving counterproductive, R.C. Khuntia told IANS, “It is not correct to say that the Congress occasionally issues anti-Hindu statements to appease Muslims.”

“Appeasing the minority is not the Congress' policy. We are with all communities equally,” he said, slamming the rival political parties and their social media brigade for projecting the Congress as an appeaser of the minority community or as an anti-Hindu party.

“Even a majority of the Muslim vote is not with the Congress,” he said, adding, “The minority vote gets divided in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra.”

“The Congress does not support or oppose anyone with the intention of winning votes of a particular community,” he said, highlighting the secular credentials of the party which does not indulge in politics based on caste, creed or religion.

Apart from Antony and Khuntia, Mukul Wasnik and Avinash Pandey were members of the Antony Committee which submitted its report to the All India Congress Committee in 2015.

Asked if the committee’s findings on the party’s perceived “minority-appeasement policy” were implemented, he said, “These questions should be put before the party President. Our job was to give the report and we had given it. To implement it was not our job”.

He said the committee’s findings were top secret and meant only for the party President and the Committee Working Committee.

“It is wrong to say that the Antony Committee report was not accepted. To what extent the report was implemented and what results it yielded is a different matter,” he said.

The Congress General Secretary said as per his knowledge the report’s implementation yielded good results in some states.

Khuntia admitted that the Congress finds itself at a disadvantage if politics in a particular state is done on the basis of caste or religion.

"The Congress finds itself at a disadvantage when radicals within the minority community and other parties try to get votes by issuing strong statements," he said.

“But if you analyse the last Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, you find that voters do not permanently vote on the basis of caste and religion,” he said.

On being asked about the Congress’ perceived proximity to the minority community, Khuntia said, “The Congress is with everyone and will continue to support all communities equally.”

He agreed that a message needs to be communicated to the masses that the Congress is a party for all communities and not for the minority or any one community and urged the media and party leaders to focus on this aspect.

According to the leaked excerpts of the Antony Committee report, the Congress party’s decision to fight the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on a “secularism versus communalism” platform had a negative impact as the party was identified as pro-minority, resulting in substantial electoral gains for the BJP.

He also noted that the minority community also doubted the Congress’ intentions.

--IANS

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