The BJP on Wednesday alleged that Rahul Gandhi's poll promise of increasing quota for the backward classes in Bihar is the Congress' ploy to take away their rights and hand them over to the minority communities including Muslims.
This came after Gandhi promised, among other things, increase in quotas for the Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) in local bodies and panchayats, 50 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and EBCs in government contracts and a law for protection against atrocities on the lines of the SC/ST Act, if the INDIA bloc is voted to power in the state.
Reacting to the Congress leader's announcements, BJP MP and national spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "We heard the statement of the 'Nepo Kid' that came from Bihar. Rahul Gandhi said that if the Congress comes to power, it will provide reservations to the OBCs and EBCs in government contracts." "The lollipop that they are showing you today is actually a screenplay behind their appeasement politics," he told reporters here at the BJP headquarters.
Patra alleged that the Congress has been engaged in "religious appeasement" since it came to power in the state.
"In Karnataka, where the Congress is in power, a four per cent reservation has been provided to Muslims in government contracts. They have prepared a list of 26 castes like Kurba Christian, Brahmin Christian, Kalinga Christian to provide reservation to them by taking away the reservation rights of those who are entitled to it," he said.
The BJP leader also underscored the contradictions between Rahul Gandhi's stand on the issue of reservation and that of his father, former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi.
"Nepo kid Rahul Gandhi's record player is stuck. He keeps repeating the same thing but doesn't do any work. He said that his party will bring social justice for OBCs, EBCs and everyone, fight for their rights, further increase reservation for them and save the Constitution," Patra said.
"But if we look at the history of their journey from Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi, we will understand the kind of mindset that the Congress had towards OBC reservation," he added.
The BJP leader said that on September 6, 1990, Rahul Gandhi's father Rajiv Gandhi gave a "long speech" in Parliament disfavouring the Mandal Commission's recommendations for OBC reservation and pitched for a "casteless society" in the country.
"He (Rajiv Gandhi) had said that if 27 per cent reservation is given to OBCs, the country's situation will get worse, talent will be compromised… Rajiv Gandhi had pitched for Muslim reservations," Patra said.
"Father had then spoken against OBCs and today the Nepo kid is in favour of the OBCs in his own style," he said.
Patra said that if anyone who has done anything for the welfare of the backward classes in the country, it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who belongs to the OBC category.
"He established the OBC Commission. For the first time, he came up with a 10 per cent reservation for the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) in the all-India quota for postgraduate medical and dental courses scheme. In 2019, the Narendra Modi government provided reservation in central institutions for the recruitment of SC, ST, OBCs to the posts of professors, associate professors and assistant professors," he said.
As the way Congress leaders had locked their then party president Sitaram Kesri in a bathroom, tying his hands and legs on the instructions of Sonia Gandhi, the party kept the "OBCs locked in a room for 75 years" until Prime Minister Modi came and took various measures for their welfare,” the BJP leader alleged.
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