New Delhi, April 17 Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday labelled Congress as the biggest anti-OBC (Other Backwards caste) party, while asserting that at least 27 ministers in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government belong to the OBC community.
Replying to the debate on the women’s reservation bill in the Lok Sabha, Amit Shah charged the Congress with not only opposing women’s reservation but also being perennially against the OBCs and Dalits.
He said that the Congress party opposed a caste-based census in 1951 and again in 1971, but, with changed ground realities and a series of electoral failures, it has become a well-wisher of the OBC.
“The grand old party never made any OBC country’s Prime Minister, despite being in power for six decades,” Shah pointed out.
Contrasting this with the BJP dispensation, he informed that 27 ministers in the Modi government hail from the OBC community, representing 40 per cent.
“Our government also extended the ‘rejig rights’ of the OBC list to the respective state government for their empowerment.”
“For them, electoral fight is important, but for us, the country, its citizens and upholding their rights is paramount,” he added.
Digging out the grand old party's previous records, he said, “In 1980, the Indira Gandhi government put the Mandal Commission’s recommendations in cold storage. In 1990, the VP Singh government brought the OBC reservations into force, but again it was Rajiv Gandhi, the then Leader of Opposition, who opposed it tooth and nail.”
Further questioning Congress’s “real motive”, he said that today they have become a ‘confessed’ supporter of the OBC community, but the reality is that it is the Modi government that has ardently and steadfastly stood for their rights.
Home Minister further said, “Today, ‘nari shakti’ of the country is watching the Opposition’s stand and their resistance to 33 per cent reservation for women. They are watching who is snatching their rights, and they will punish them adequately when they hit the streets.”
Further, referring to their opposition to the women’s reservation bill, he said that this is the fifth time the Congress party has opposed women's reservation, and they will face the electorate's wrath when they go to meet them during elections.
He said the BJP has always stood behind ‘nari shakti’ and supported women's reservation in letter and spirit, and cited names such as late Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti, Vasundhara Raja, and Anandiben Patel as the first BJP woman chief ministers in respective states.
“Droupadi Murmu became the first woman from the tribal community to become the President, with BJP support,” he pointed out.
“It’s sad and unfortunate that those who stalled women's reservation before are against trying to scuttle the bill,” Amit Shah stated.
--IANS
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