Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for not having any representation from the minorities on the list of its Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded general elections. Abdullah's statement comes right at a time when the newly elected MPs were meeting on June 7 to elect Narendra Modi as their leader, paving the way for him to take oath as prime minister for a third term.
The swearing-in is likely to be held on Sunday.
“It’s not just the BJP, the NDA is Muslim mukth, Christian mukth, Buddhist mukth, Sikh mukth and yet the government will claim to represent 140 crore Indians,” Abdullah said in a tweet.
Abdullah's tweet came in response to a newspaper report about representations of communities, including Muslims, in the NDA and INDIA bloc among the newly elected MPs.
The NDA finally won 293 seats, which is a comfortable number above the 272-seat majority mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The BJP won 240 seats, while the Congress secured 99 seats. An independent MP has also joined the Congress party.
While there are no Muslim MPs among NDA parties, the INDIA bloc has 7.9 per cent Muslim MPs. Similarly, the NDA has no Christian MPs, while the INDIA bloc has 3.5 per cent Christian MPs. There is not even one single Sikh MP in the NDA while the INDIA bloc has 5 per cent MPs from Sikh community, according to the report quoted by Abdullah.
Overall, 24 Muslim MPs have been elected to the Lok Sabha this time.
The Lok Sabha Elections were held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1. The results were announced on June 4.
