Congress out to strip OBCs, SCs of rights, won’t allow it: Modi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 29

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said voters’ decision on May 7 in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election will answer people who are indulging in votebank politics.

Attacking the principal rival Congress in Karnataka, where the BJP-JD (S) combine has been hit hard by allegations of former PM HD Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajwal Revanna’s involvement in a sex scandal, the PM said the Congress wanted to change the Constitution to strip the rights of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs.

“Due to Congress’s votebank politics, the rights of SC-ST communities are no longer secure in the country. On one hand, the BJP government in Karnataka granted ST status to the Talavara community. More than 3 lakh families in Karnataka have been issued Hukku Patra. However, in Karnataka, the Congress has initiated a campaign to amend the Constitution and strip away the rights of SC/ST/OBC communities. The Karnataka Government has allocated a portion of OBC reservation for Muslims. They had previously mentioned in their manifesto about making laws to provide reservation based on religion. I will not let this happen,” Modi said.

Addressing a rally in Bagalkot, the PM encouraged voters to participate in large numbers and cast their votes.

“Your vote on May 7 will answer those who engage in votebank politics,” he said at the venue where a young girl was seen flashing a sketch of the PM she had made. The PM asked the SPG to collect the same, promising the child to write back to her. The girl was seen celebrating the moment of acknowledgement from the PM.

Earlier in his speech, the PM also accused the Congress of promoting extremist forces in Karnataka where the party rules.

He mentioned the Hubballi murder incident and said the whole nation was worried about the law and order situation in Karnataka.

“The Congress government is busy destroying Karnataka. Instead of controlling crime, the Congress is promoting an anti-social and anti-national mindset,” the PM said. He alleged that in Karnataka, extremist forces had become rampant.

Pointing to incidents where a shopkeeper was attacked for listening to Hanuman Chalisa in his shop, Modi said there were attempts to downplay such cases. “These are not normal crime incidents. This reflects the mentality of terrorism and extremism... The Congress is promoting this mentality solely to gain votes,” he said.

Later, he held rallies in Maharashtra’s Satara, Solapur and Pune where he said the Congress-led INDI Alliance was planning five PMs in five years. “INDI Agadhi plans to have five PMs in five years if elected,” PM Modi said in Solapur. Speaking in Pune, he said apart from votebank politics, another identity of Congress rule is giving freedom to terrorists.

Slamming the INDI Alliance of the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction, PM Modi said, “On one hand, there’s Modi, who has been tested for 10 years. On the other hand, within the INDI-Agadhi, there’s a fierce battle going on in the name of the leader. Now these people have come up with a formula of ‘5 years, 5 PMs’. Can the country function like this?”

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