STATE TIMES NEWS
Himmatnagar (Gujarat): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the Congress had claimed that there will be bloodshed and the country will break apart if Article 370 was removed from Kashmir.
“We removed Article 370. Was there any bloodshed? They used to claim no one will lift the tricolour in Kashmir after that decision. Today, our tricolour is flying high at Lal Chowk (in Srinagar),” said the Prime Minister while addressing a rally in Himmatnagar town of north Gujarat in support of BJP’s Lok Sabha candidates for Sabarkantha and Mehsana seats.
Give in writing will never give reservation based on religion: Modi to Cong
Banaskantha/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday challenged the Congress to give a guarantee in writing that it will never give quota based on religion and asserted that as long as he is alive he will not allow anyone to “play the game of reservation”.
As the quota row escalated with five more phases left in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on its part asked Modi to clear his stance on whether he will remove the 50 per cent cap on reservation for Scheduled Castes(SC), Scheduled Tribes(ST) and Other Backward Class(OBC). The seven-phase elections concludes on June one. Union Home Minister Amit Shah also said the BJP will never do away with reservations for SC/ST/OBC categories nor will it allow the Congress to do so.
In his first public address in Gujarat as part of the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in his home state, Prime Minister Modi said that as long as the BJP and he remain, the reservation granted to SC/ST/OBC and economically weaker sections will be safeguarded and not harmed.
“I challenge the shahzada(a reference to Rahul Gandhi) of Congress, as well as Congress party and its supporters to announce that they will never misuse reservation in the name of religion, nor will they play with the Constitution or give reservation in the name of religion.
“Let the Congress and INDI alliance give a guarantee in writing — because they cannot be trusted — that they will never give reservation in the name of religion. They should also give a second guarantee that they will never touch reservation given to SC, ST, OBC and general category. They will never do so, will never give it in writing,” Modi said.
“I challenge Congress and its ecosystem to declare they would not give reservation to minorities by altering Constitution.”
He said in 2024, the Congress and the INDIA bloc have come out with a lie, and are flashing the Constitution to spread fear that it will be changed and reservation given to the SC, ST, OBC and EWS will be taken away if the NDA comes to power.
“A completely fabricated gossip,” Modi said, as he accused the Congress of spreading a false narrative.
“Congress and its people should listen carefully that this is Modi. As long as Modi is alive, I will never let you play the game of reservation in the name of the Constitution.”
Modi said the SC, ST, OBC and the poor from the general category have got reservation under Constitution, with the blessings of Babasaheb Ambedkar, and nobody can take away even a part of it.
“Your (Congress) intention is to give reservation to the Muslims in the name of religion.
“I can say this with confidence — and I say this on record in front of the world — that as long as the BJP and Modi remain, the reservation given by Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution to the SC, ST, OBC and common man (EWS) will be safeguarded and will not be harmed,” he said.
He said there was a time when the Congress government used to send “dossiers”, a bunch of documents about an incident, to a neighbouring country following a terror attack.
“Today, India gives dose, not dossiers. We now hunt them (terrorists) in their own homes (ghar me ghus kar marte hai),” Modi asserted.
The Prime Minister also said that it was his government which gave reservation rights to Dalits, tribals and OBCs in Jammu and Kashmir by implementing the Constitution there after removing Article 370.
“Modi works to protect the sanctity of the Constitution in every corner of India. Dalits, tribals and backward classes have already rejected the Congress. The BJP has the highest number of MLAs and MPs from these communities,” he added.
He questioned the Congress’s respect for the Constitution and said Muslim women have suffered under its rule as he referred to the Rajiv Gandhi government overturning the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case in 1985.
He said the Congress never dared to ban the practice of instant triple talaq due to vote-bank politics.
Hitting back at the Congress for claiming the BJP will change the Constitution in its third term in office, Modi said the opposition party could not implement the statute book in the entire country during its decades-long rule.
The PM asserted he was committed to the Constitution and ensured its implementation in Jammu and Kashmir by removing Article 370 which provided special status to the erstwhile state.
“Congress leaders are now claiming the Constitution is in danger and reservation will be abolished. In reality, the Congress could not implement the Constitution in the entire country during its 70-year rule. Our Constitution was not implemented in Kashmir…It was Modi who did it because Modi is committed to the Constitution,” emphasised the BJP stalwart.
The PM hit back at the opposition INDIA bloc over its “BJP will change the Constitution” narrative and referred to the then-Congress government’s decision to overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Shah Bano Case of 1985.
He said Muslim women have suffered under the Congress rule due to the party’s vote-bank politics.
“Congress shehzada (referring to Rahul Gandhi) is now roaming with (copy of) the Constitution book. In the Shah Bano case, it was your party’s government which overturned the judgement of the Supreme Court, which works as per the Constitution. Where was your respect for the Constitution then? You changed the SC ruling and deprived Muslim women of any security,” said Modi.
In 1985, the SC had ruled in favour of Shah Bano, a Muslim woman from Indore who had sought maintenance from her husband after divorce, but the then-Congress government under PM Rajiv Gandhi overturned the judgement through an Act.
Modi said his government’s 2019 decision to abolish the practice of instant triple talaq has given security to not only Muslim women, but their families too, as they used to remain tense about what will happen to their daughter if the husband gives her instant divorce.
“You never dared to stop triple talaq due to vote-bank politics. But, I am not worried about the vote bank. I don’t run the country on the basis of victory or defeat in elections. I just wanted to give security to my Muslim daughters. I was able to save the lives of lakhs of women and their families with that decision,” said Modi.
On the decades-long issue of Ram Temple, the BJP’s star campaigner maintained its construction in Ayodhya should have started the very next day India got its independence in 1947.
“But, our country had to fight for the temple for 75 years. The Congress tried to even change laws to ensure it (temple) never comes up. It was finally built after an SC verdict. But, when the temple trust invited them (Congress) for ‘Pran Pratishtha’ (consecration ceremony), they did not honour the invitation just to appease their vote-bank,” claimed Modi.