Lucknow, Aug. 11 -- The Rashtriya Ulama Council on Monday demanded that the Centre remove the religious restriction imposed under Article 341 of the Constitution, which has kept Pasmanda Muslims and Christians out of the list of Scheduled Castes since 1950. Addressing a press conference in Lucknow on Monday, Maulana Amir Rashadi, the RUC president, described August 10, 1950 - the day a presidential ordinance introduced the restriction - as a "black day of injustice" whose consequences crores of people continue to bear. He said the RUC has been fighting the discrimination from the very beginning through awareness campaigns, protests and hunger strikes, and observes the date every year as "Injustice Day." The Rashtriya Ulama Council will play an active role in the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Rashadi announced. It plans to place the rights, dignity, justice and political representation of Muslims and other marginalised communities at the centre of electoral discourse and will work with like-minded parties to offer a new alternative and push for a change of power, he said. He alleged that while the BJP has of late spoken frequently about Pasmanda Muslims, organised conferences in their name and built a political narrative around them, it falls silent the moment the demand for Scheduled Caste reservation is raised. "If the government truly believes in 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', it must prove its goodwill by granting reservation, not merely delivering speeches," he said. He questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's repeated references to Pasmanda Muslims, asking why the government has taken no concrete step on their constitutional right to reservation. Reservation, Rashadi stressed, is based on social and economic backwardness, not religion. Communities engaged in the same traditional occupations were originally granted equal reservation, and the council will continue its struggle until Pasmanda Muslims and Christians regain that right. Turning to Uttar Pradesh, the Maulana accused the state BJP government of using continuous injustice, harassment, violence, bulldozer action and discrimination against Muslims to divert attention from corruption, unemployment and rising crime. He also criticised so-called 'secular' parties for remaining silent on these issues for fear of upsetting other vote banks, saying even Muslim leaders within these parties receive no support when targeted. "Muslims have decided to take their leadership into their own hands. Equality and a fair share will now be the demand," he declared....