Congress wanted to give SC, ST quota to Muslims: PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the Congress had designs to provide reservations to Muslims from the quotas earmarked for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), and reiterated that the Opposition party has hatched a “deep conspiracy” to “X-ray” and snatch people’s wealth and distribute it among a “select” group.

Addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Tonk, the PM alleged that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2004 took steps to “curtail the SC/ST reservation in Andhra Pradesh” to allocate it to Muslims.

Modi claimed that this was the Congress’ “pilot project” which it intended to implement in the entire country.

“The Congress attempted to implement reservation for Muslims on four occasions between 2004 and 2010 but couldn’t because of legal hurdles and the awareness of the Supreme Court,” he said.

“I want to ask the Congress, will it divide the reservation for Dalits and backward tribals and give it to Muslims,” Modi said.

He said the Congress’ actions betrayed that it didn’t respect either the Constitution or B R Ambedkar, while he was dedicated to protecting the sanctity of that document.

“Modi is giving you a guarantee that reservation for Dalits and the backward tribals will neither end nor be allowed to be divided in the name of religion,” he said.

The PM said his Sunday’s Banswara rally speech has peeved the Congress, the Opposition INDIA bloc, and their “ecosystem” after he “exposed” their vote bank and appeasement politics, and they have started abusing him.

“I have put forth the truth before the country that the Congress is hatching a deep conspiracy to snatch your wealth and distribute it among select people,” he said.

“Their leader has said in a speech that an X-ray of wealth will be done. This means that if something is kept in a box or hidden in a wall, it will be searched through X-ray,” Modi claimed.

In Guwahati, Congress Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the party is exploring legal remedies as the Election Commission (EC) of India is not acting on the complaint against the PM for his “redistribution of wealth” remarks.

The Congress on Monday moved the EC seeking “appropriate action” against Modi for his “redistribution of wealth” remarks at a poll rally in Rajasthan, alleging that the comments were “divisive”, “malicious”, and targeted a particular religious community.

EC sources said the Congress complaint was under consideration.

On Tuesday, the Congress asked the EC to take action against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “spreading confusion and angst” among the salaried professionals and the middle class over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks about equitable development of society.

In a complaint, All India Professionals’ Congress head Praveen Chakravarty claimed, “There is a wilful and deliberate attempt to stoke confusion, havoc, and angst among the salaried professionals and the middle class through misinformation and lies.”

He said while launching the Congress party’s manifesto in Hyderabad on April 6, 2024, party leader Rahul Gandhi spoke about the Congress' commitment to economic and social justice to ensure more equitable development of our society.

“This message has been deliberately twisted and propagated,” he said. Chakravarty complained to the EC about a WhatsApp message which says that the Congress party manifesto promises to “confiscate two-thirds of your assets for redistribution to the poor under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Wealth Redistribution Scheme”. He also referred to an article in a leading daily using this as the basis for such “misinformation”. Terming the claims as “utterly false”, Chakravarty said the Congress party’s manifesto makes no such promise anywhere.

Modi had first referred to a speech that PM Manmohan Singh had delivered in 2006 at a meeting of the National Development Council in his public meeting in Banswara on Sunday. The PM again referred to it in Tonk, stating that his predecessor had given a speech in which he had said Muslims have the first right on the country's resources.

“This was not a coincidence. This is not a single statement. The Congress ideology has always been of appeasement and vote-bank politics,” he said.

In his Banswara speech, the PM alleged that the Congress had plans to redistribute people’s wealth to “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.

On Monday, in his speech in Aligarh, the PM repeated the charge but skipped the point that Congress intended to distribute the wealth seized to the minority community.

In Tonk, the PM dared the Congress to “declare” openly that if it came to power it would provide reservations to Muslims out of the quota for Dalits and tribals. He said the BJP government in Karnataka abolished the Muslim quota.

Later in the day, addressing a public meeting in Chhattisgarh, the PM hit out at Congress over a remark by its Goa candidate that the Constitution was imposed on the coastal state, and said it was a “ploy” to break the country.

In his Tonk rally, the PM wished people on Hanuman Jayanti and said it had become difficult to follow one’s faith under the Congress rule, such as in Karnataka, where a man was stopped from reciting the Hanuman Chalisa.

Primer

In its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha (LS) polls, the Congress has said that the “economic empowerment of minorities is a necessary step for India to realize its full potential”.

The manifesto states: “We will ensure that the minorities receive their fair share of opportunities in education, health care, public employment, public works contracts, skill development, sports, and cultural activities without discrimination.”

In the run-up to the Telangana Assembly polls in December 2023, Congress’ A Revanth Reddy committed to protecting the four per cent quota for Muslims after Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in a public meeting, announced that a BJP government in the state will scrap the quota.

In March 2023, with the Karnataka Assembly polls around the corner, the BJP government in the state scrapped the four per cent reservation granted to the socially and educationally backwards (SEBCs) among Muslims, instead allocating it reservation within the 10 per cent quota for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of the general category.

The Congress, in its 2009 LS poll manifesto, promised nationwide reservation for Muslims in jobs and education within the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Class (OBCs).

In 2004, the UPA government’s Ranganath Misra panel, the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, was tasked with formulating parameters for quotas to SEBCs among religious and linguistic minorities. The committee recommended a 10 per cent quota for Muslims and five per cent for other minorities in government jobs and educational institutions.

In 2011, the UPA government’s minority affairs ministry proposed an 8.4 per cent sub-quota within the OBC quota, including 6 per cent for Muslims, which was later reduced to 4.5 per cent for minorities.

In the run-up to the 2012 UP Assembly polls, the UPA government announced a 4.5 per cent sub-quota for minorities within the 27 per cent quota for OBCs. The EC stalled the move. In May 2012, the Andhra Pradesh High Court quashed the UPA government’s 4.5 per cent sub-quota move stating that it was based on religious grounds and not on any other consideration. In its 2014 LS election manifesto, the Congress committed to giving quotas to minorities.

The K Vijayabhaskar Reddy-led Congress government in the undivided Andhra Pradesh proposed 5 per cent job and educational quotas for Muslims and 14 other castes in 1993-94, which it couldn’t implement as it lost the Assembly polls in 1994 and 1999.

The Y S Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress promised a quota for SEBCs among Muslims during its 2004 election campaign. In 2010, the Supreme Court stayed the Andhra government’s move, referring it to a Constitutional Bench.

With inputs from PTI