New Delhi: In a rejection of BJP's charge that UPA's minority welfare policies were driven by vote-bank politics, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said equity is no appeasement but a sign of humanism.

"A commitment to equity is not appeasement. It is a mark of one's commitment to humanism," he remarked in his address commemorating the 110th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bosehere.

His comments came amidst a fierce attack BJP has mounted on the UPA for its range of plans aimed at the uplift of minorities, especially Muslims, in the light of the Sachar Committee report on the economic and social condition of the community.

Singh recalled that Bose too believed that all minority communities should be allowed their due space in governmental affairs.

"As the President of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1938 he (Bose) articulated a vision that is of abiding relevance. Netaji's view that all minorities communities be allowed their due space in cultural and as well as governmental affairs testified to his humanism and commitment to egalitarian values," the Prime Minister said.

Singh also recounted that both Bose and Mahatma Gandhi remained deeply committed to Hindu-Muslim unity and amity. "They were both deeply spiritual men, but equally secular. They understood that India's great contribution to humankind is the idea of sarva dharma sambhava," he remarked.