The Bharatiya Janata Party is opposed to the proposed Communal Violence Bill that was one of the main items on the agenda of the National Integration Council meeting held here on Saturday.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told journalists later that her party raised two main objections: the Bill would allow the Centre to tread into the area of public order that was the sole prerogative of the States; and it sought to divide citizens into two categories: the majority and the minority in each State.
Elaborating on the second point, Ms. Swaraj said the BJP did not agree that the majority — Hindus in most States — should be painted as villains and culprits and the minority community as the oppressed and the terrorised.
She pointed out that for some time now, there had not been a major communal riot. In such a scenario, making this issue a major point on the NIC's agenda did not serve any purpose. It would have been much more useful to focus on terrorism and the Naxal violence.
Ms. Swaraj questioned the utility of the NIC meeting once in several years. Instead, she said, it should be held every year.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has also separately called its front organisations to stop the Bill from becoming law. It has described the draft as “dangerous.”
