Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu had said that "communal reservation" will divide the country and the BJP has "every right" to oppose Telangana government's proposal to hike quota for Muslims in the state.

"We have got every right to oppose. We are opposed to any communal reservation. It is not because of TRS now (in Telangana) ... when Rajasekhara Reddy (former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) brought it, we opposed it; when Chandrababu Naidu proposed it we had opposed it and when TRS brings it, we will oppose it because communal reservation will divide the country," he told.

"There are poor people among the Muslims. If they are socially, educationally and economically backward, there should be reservation, but not as a religion. BJP is against religious reservation," he said.

"Telangana government is free and they can bring a law, but I am sure this law will not stand scrutiny of the legal system," he added.

BJP has been organising protests against the TRS government's proposal to increase the quota for Muslims, terming it as an unconstitutional move. The state government had clarified that the reservation is proposed not on the basis of religion, but for the uplift of backward sections among Muslims.

By Premji