Network18 Exclusive - 'Imprint of Muslim league': PM Modi says Congress manifesto a threat to SC/STs

PM Modi warned that the Congress is determined to implement reservation based on religion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the Congress over its Lok Sabha election manifesto and said that it has the stamp of the Muslim League. He also alleged that the party has insulted the father of the Constitution BR Ambedkar through its repeated attempts to provide reservation on the basis of religion.

"The way they are flouting the Constitution, the way they are insulting Ambedkar ... There is a threat to reservation for SCs and STs," he said in an exclusive interview to News18 network.

Slamming the grand old party, PM Modi warned that the party is determined to implement reservation based on religion by stealing quota from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

"There is a threat to the reservation for both the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST). Should I not inform the people of the country about this? I believe that it is the responsibility of all the learned people, who are rich in knowledge, who are unbiased, to educate this country, to tell it the right things," he told News18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, News18 Kannada Editor, Hariprasad, and News18 Lokmat Anchor Vilas Bade.

The Congress released Lok Sabha election manifesto 'Nyay Patra' on April 5. The party promised minorities the freedom of choice of dress, food, language and personal laws if it comes to power. It also vowed to pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50% cap on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs.

Sharpening his attack on the Congress, the Prime Minister said that the party labelled Muslims as OBCs only due to vote-bank politics.

In 2004, after forming the government at the Centre the first thing they did was to reduce the SC/ST quota in Andhra Pradesh and give reservation to Muslims.

"When Congress came back in 2004, it immediately decided to give OBC quota to Muslims in Andhra Pradesh. The matter got complicated in court. The India Parliament had decided to give 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in line with the basic spirit of the Constitution. Now, they tried to appropriate this 27% quota," PM Modi said.

During the interview, the Prime Minister highlighted how the Congress party decided to give the OBC share to Muslims in 2011. He claimed that the party tried the same in Uttar Pradesh elections as well but to no avail.

"When the Andhra high court it in 2011, the Congress moved Supreme Court. However, even there they did not get any relief. The 2014 manifesto also talked about reservation on the basis of religion. When the Constitution of India was made, no RSS or BJP people were present. Great men like Pandit Nehru and Babasaheb Ambedkar were present there who decided, after long contemplation, that reservation cannot be given on the basis of religion in a country like India," he added.