PTI

New Delhi, Mar 10: Criticising a government bill which seeks to affiliate minority educational institutes as a policy to "appease" minorities, Opposition BJP today said it would not benefit the targeted people and instead result in "further commercialisation" of education.

"The UPA Government should stop introducing policies to appease the minority. In the name of minority, the passing of the Bill would result in further commercialisation of education with exorbitant fees being charged by minority educational institutions," the party's Bachi Singh Rawat said in Lok Sabha commenting on the National Commission for Minority Educational Institution (Amendment) Bill, 2006.

He said vesting the Commission with legal powers and making it the ultimate authority in issues like affiliation of universities would make it more of a regulatory body. This would also impact the federal structure of the country as education is a state subject.

Alluding to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's speech yesterday, Rawat said government should provide quality education to all and also financial aid to minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The government should refrain from taking policy decisions with an eye on the vote bank.

Rebutting the allegations, Madhusudan Mistry (Congress) said the government was not appeasing the minorities but trying to help them move up the social ladder.

"It is not a special treatment or appeasing the minorities as the BJP member has alleged. But the fact is they too need to be part of the mainstream and able to compete at par. We are trying to help them do this," Mistry said.