Congress wants to give reservations by increasing quota limit: Amit Shah

Accusing the Congress of being "anti-reservation," Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday alleged that the Congress does not want the welfare of OBCs but wants to give quota to Muslims by increasing the limit beyond 50 per cent.

Concluding the two-day discussion in Rajya Sabha on 75 years of the Constitution, Amit Shah accused the Congress of "appeasement, dynastic politics and corruption".

He said the Congress is learnt to be introspecting its reverses in recent assembly polls and said if the opposition party wants to get the support of the people, it should leave "appeasement, dynastic politics and corruption".

 

Shah asserted that the BJP will not allow reservation in the country on the basis of religion.

"Today, I want to tell you how the Congress party is actually anti-reservation. Their words and actions are completely contradictory. In 1995, the Kaka Saheb Kalelkar Commission was formed to provide reservations to OBCs. Where is its report? It was forgotten because OBCs would have received reservations. Any report that comes has to be appeared before the Cabinet, but instead of bringing it to Parliament, they kept it in the archives. If the Kaka Saheb Kalelkar report had been accepted, the Mandal Commission report of 1980 would not have been necessary," he said.

"I want to tell the people of the country that reservation on the basis of religion exists in two states of the country... which is unconstitutional. It has been made clear in the Constitution that there will be no reservation on the basis of religion. But when Congress was in power in both states, reservation was given on the basis of religion. Congress wants to give reservations to Muslims by increasing the quota limit beyond 50 per cent. But today I once again say with responsibility in this House that as long as there is even a single BJP MP, we will not allow reservation on the basis of religion," he added.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly said that the party wants to increase reservation beyond the existing ceiling of 50 per cent. He has also repeatedly talked of a caste census.

Shah attacked the Congress over the Emergency imposed in 1975.

"Lakhs of people were jailed. Media was censored. Every child should be told about Emergency so that no one dares to impose it again."

Coming down heavily on the Opposition over its earlier stance concerning the abrogation of Article 370, he said the Kashmir valley is witnessing unprecedented growth.

"When Narendra Modi became the PM of the country again in 2019, we abrogated Article 370 and Article 35A in Parliament. They used to say that rivers of blood would flow in Jammu and Kashmir, but no one dared to even throw stones... For the first time, 35,000 members of Panchayat were elected. After the abrogation of Article 370, more than two lakh tourists came to Jammu and Kashmir, terrorist activities were reduced by 92 per cent, people of Pahari, Gujjar and Bakarwal communities got reservations, the national flag is flying at Lal Chowk, the highest railway arch bridge is being built on Chenab river... After the abrogation of Article 370, your (Congress) shop of appeasement politics has closed," Shah said.

Shah also responded to Rahul Gandhi's criticism of Savarkar.

Highlighting Veer Savarkar's sacrifice, Shah said that in the struggle for freedom, no one else was sentenced to two life terms.

"If anyone had the courage to leap into the ocean for the country's freedom, it was Veer Savarkar. In the same prison, two brothers served the sentence of kaala paani (cellular prison). For 10 years, the two brothers did not even see each other...," Shah said.

Leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies later praised Amit Shah's speech while Congress leaders slammed it.

BJP MP Dr Laxmikant Bajpai said Amit Shah "showed a mirror to the leaders" of Congress during the debate on Constitution.

Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary alleged that there have been many such instances when Congress party misused power

"The nation will never forget it (Emergency). There was a very good discussion on the protection of constitutional values. The Union Home Minister explained things in detail. A lot of information that was not in the public domain was also made available."

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said Amit Shah other BJP leaders were trying to divert attention of people from pressing issues.

"Today whatever Home Minister said is far from truth, it's lie for example Ambedkar statue, was it built during their (BJP) tenure?...everything is a lie...they are trying to divert people through lies and this won't go for long...he came to the Parliament just to praise PM Modi," Kharge said.

Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said that Amit Shah's speech was basically an attack on Congress.

"Union Minister Amit Shah spoke for 90 minutes in the Rajya Sabha and other BJP leaders also spoke. In Lok Sabha 'One Nation One Election' has been introduced and in the Rajya Sabha it was 'One Speech Many Speakers'...Union Minister Amit Shah lied for 90 minutes...This was just an attack on the Congress Party, this was not a speech," Jairam Ramesh said.

BJD MP Sasmit Patra said that for the last two days, the Constitution of India has been discussed in the Rajya Sabha.

"It was a very positive discussion. Leaders of the ruling party and the opposition put forth their views... The Constitution is a living document and we all should move forward following the ideals of the Constitution of India," Patra said.

The two-day marathon debate in Rajya Sabha on the 75 years of the Constitution started on Monday.

The Lok Sabha held a two-day discussion last week. The winter session of Parliament will continue till December 20.