MAU (UP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said India Bloc parties are trying to make the country’s majority community second-class citizens and accused them of trying to rewrite the Constitution to provide reservations on the basis of religion.
Addressing a rally at Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh’s Purvanchal district, he asserted that the Opposition will abolish reservations given to SCs, STs and OBCs and give them all to Muslims. He accused political parties in India of pitting different castes against each other.
Attacking the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Indian National Congress, which form the Indian Bloc, PM Modi said they had neglected Purvanchal for years and turned the area into a “district of mafia, poverty and helplessness”.
He accused the SP and the Union of India of undermining the party by engineering caste conflict, adding that this was being done “to divert people’s attention from the real issues”.
“Today I have come to warn the people of Purvanchal and Ghosi about a big conspiracy by the INDI alliance,” PM Modi said, counting three “big conspiracies” by the group.
“First, the people of INDI will amend the Constitution and write anew that reservations should be given in India on the basis of religion. Secondly, the people of INDI will abolish the reservations given to SC, ST and OBC. Then, all reservations will be given to Muslims on the basis of religion,” PM Modi said.
“A third way has been devised to circumvent OBC reservation. Overnight they declare Muslim castes as OBC. Recently, the Calcutta High Court has rejected OBC reservation for 77 Muslim castes,” he said.
The Prime Minister further said, “Today, the SP, Congress and INDI people want to make the majority community in India second-class citizens.”
He alleged that SP officials had hatched a conspiracy to relegate Purvanchal to a backward state and people of the region would continue to punish them in this matter.
“SP and Congress families, with their dynastic mentality, have turned Purvanchal into a region of mafia, poverty and helplessness,” he said.
“The INDI Alliance workers who set fire to your houses, encroached on your land, instigated mobs and shed tears for the mafia will not be allowed to set foot in Purvanchal,” PM Modi said.
The rallies were organised in support of BJP and NDA candidates from Ghosi, Salempur and Bahria assembly constituencies.
Referring to previous manifestos of the SP and the Indian National Congress, PM Modi said, “In 2012 (state assembly elections), the SP had clearly stated in its manifesto that reservations would be given to Muslims as well, just like what Babasaheb had given to Dalits.”
Modi further alleged that the Indian National Congress had declared educational institutions as minority institutions and given reservations to admit Muslims there.
“Before 2014, Congress changed the law overnight and declared schools, universities and junior colleges as minority institutions. Congress declared thousands of educational institutions as minority institutions. The reservation that SC, ST and OBC students got there earlier was completely abolished and Muslims got reservation,” he said.
“What could be a greater betrayal of the sons and daughters of the Dalits, the backward tribes?” Modi asked.
Referring to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the prime minister said people from across the world visit it to have “darshan” of Rama Lala. However, the SP and the Indian National Congress have rejected invitations to attend the consecration ceremony of the temple, Modi said.
“They pretend to go to temples during elections. But when such a grand festival (consecration ceremony) of our faith comes after 500 years, they start attacking the Rama temple. They were angry about the construction of the Rama temple,” he said.
He also alleged that these opposition parties are discussing overturning the verdict in the Ram temple case as well as the Shah Bano case.
In 1985, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of Shah Bano, a Muslim woman from Indore who had sought maintenance from her husband after her divorce, but the then Rajiv Gandhi government overturned the verdict through legislation. In November 2019, a five-judge Supreme Court bench cleared the way for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, ending a decades-long land dispute.
“When Modi openly exposes them (opposition parties), they raise slogans of digging Modi’s grave,” the prime minister said.
“They are issuing a fatwa (decree) of vote jihad against Prime Minister Modi, but as long as he has the protective shield of his mother and sisters and your blessings, no one can harm him,” he said.
NDA partner Suheldev Indian Samaj Party has fielded Arvind Rajbhar from Ghosi Assembly constituency, while the BJP has fielded Neeraj Shekhar and Ravindra Kushwaha from Ballia and Salempur constituencies respectively.
Voting in Ghosi, Bahria and Salempur will take place on June 1 in the final phase of the ongoing Indian Lok Sabha elections.
Published May 26, 2024 15:53 IST
