 "Battleground 2024: Have no waaris other than Indians, says PM Modi")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his campaign speech in Bihar on Tuesday, said that Jawaharlal Nehru would have never agreed to reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) if it weren't for B R Ambedkar. Modi also said that he neither has any heir, nor any legacy to bestow except the people of the country.
Addressing a public meeting in Bihar’s Maharajganj, the PM said the poorest of the people nurse a desire to leave something behind for their progeny or heirs. “Modi aisa insaan hai jis ki koi virasat nahin hai. Mere liye to aap hi meri virasat hain, aap hi mere waris hain. Mere aur koi waaris nahin hai. (Modi is such a person who has no inheritance. You are my inheritance, and you are my heir. I have no other heir),” the PM said. This statement came days after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the PM would retire at 75, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will succeed him.
Maharajganj will poll in the sixth phase on May 25.
On the question of reservations to the SCs and STs, the PM claimed that Nehru was against quotas, according to the letters written by India’s first prime minister to the then chief ministers in the country. He was addressing a public meeting in Bihar’s Motihari.
"This has been the Congress' trait under successive Prime Ministers. Be it Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, they all opposed reservations. SCs, STs and OBCs (Other Backward Classes) have never got respect from the Congress,” the PM claimed. Modi accused the Opposition of spreading a falsehood that the BJP could scrap quotas by changing the Constitution of India, if they returned to power with a brute majority.
Later in the day, the PM addressed a women’s conference in his Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, where he claimed that women were neglected during the rule of the Congress and Samajwadi Party governments in the state.
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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, at a public meeting in Jamshedpur, said the PM was “anti-tribal” as he put Hemant Soren, the “tallest tribal leader of the country” in jail. “Soren’s wife Kalpana is challenging Modi like ‘Jhansi ki Rani’. No court has found Hemant Soren or Arvind Kejriwal guilty,” he said.
"If you press the button with lotus symbol (of BJP), Hemant Soren will remain in jail... it will be a betrayal with the Jharkhand and tribal community. President Droupadi Murmu was not invited during the consecration of Ram Mandir only because she is a tribal... if tribals remain silent, oppression will continue," Kejriwal said. The Delhi CM alleged that the BJP is seeking 400 seats as it wants to stop the reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs.