VARANASI (Uttar Pradesh): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader JP Nadda on Monday said there will be no reservation based on religion as long as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party are in power.
He accused the Opposition of planning to create reservations on the basis of religion and said, “It is clearly stated in the Constitution that there will be no reservations on the basis of religion.”
“As long as Prime Minister Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party are in power, no such reservations will be made,” he told reporters.
He was in the city to campaign for Modi, who is running for the third time in the Indian Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi.
“We will not tolerate anyone encroaching on reservation for Dalits, tribals, backward classes and extremely backward classes. You will see what happens with the Opposition on June 4 (polling day),” Nadda told reporters in Varanasi.
“For a long time, politics meant ‘divide and rule’ but now we have the ‘politics of development’,” he told a gathering of intellectuals here. “What was the political situation 10 years ago?” Nadda asked, saying India was counted among the most corrupt countries but the biggest problem was that ordinary people had become apathetic and lost faith in politics.
“This is a threat to democracy but in the last 10 years, PM Modi has built trust among common man for the development of the country,” the BJP leader said.
Opposition parties had earlier propagated the caste system and created divisions on the grounds of religion and region, he said. “PM Modi has also shocked this culture. Today, a politics of development is underway in which ‘support, efforts and trust of all’ is the basis.”
Nada also offered prayers at the Kaal Bhairav Temple. “Whenever I come to Varanasi, I visit Kaal Bhairav Temple, Sankat Mochan and Kashi Vishwanath Temple. As you all know, Kashi is a religious city and a city that propagates Sanatan Dharma. I get new energy from here,” Nada said.
Varanasi, where Modi is campaigning, will vote on June 1.
The Congress has fielded its state speaker Ajay Rai from this seat.
“I have prayed for prosperity, peace and happiness in the society and empowerment of the development works started by the Narendra Modi government. Mr Modi will be the Prime Minister for the third time in a 400-seat assembly,” he added.
Nada is scheduled to address and attend several meetings in the city on the same day.
Published May 27, 2024 09:35 IST
