CHANDIGARH: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that if the Congress comes to power in Haryana, it will snatch the reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) and give it to Muslims.
He said the BJP will not allow Muslim reservation in Haryana where Assembly elections are scheduled to be held later this year.
Addressing a ‘Backward Classes Samman Sammelan’ at Mahendragarh , Shah said, “In Karnataka, the Congress snatched reservation for backward classes and gave it to Muslims. The same will happen here (Haryana) if they come to power. I want to assure you that we will not allow Muslim reservation in Haryana.”
Targeting former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda over the Congress’s ‘Haryana Maange Hisab’ campaign, he said, “ Hooda sahab, you have to give an account of 10 years of misgovernance and depriving Haryana of development.”
“When the election gets closer Bhupinder Singh Hooda chants the term backward class. However, the Congress party has always been against the backward classes,” he said. Shah referred to the Kaka Kalekar Commission formed in the 1950s to provide reservation to OBCs and said the Congress did not implement its recommendations for years. “In 1980, (the then prime minister) Indira Gandhi put the Mandal Commission in cold storage. In 1990, when it was accepted, Rajiv Gandhi gave a two-and-a-half-hour speech and opposed OBC reservation.”’
Shah said the Nayab Singh Saini government increased the annual income limit for the creamy layer of OBCs from `6 lakh to `8 lakh. “The backward classes have blessed the BJP profusely. Now it is the responsibility of the BJP to do more for them,” he said.
Shah said the BJP gave the nation its first PM from the backward classes. “Today out of 71 ministers in his government, Modi ji has inducted 27 ministers from the backward classes, including two from Haryana. We have made the son of a BC family the CM. The Congress has given Haryana only corruption and casteism,” he added.
Hooda draws flak
Home Minister Amit Shah said when polls gets closer, Bhupinder Singh Hooda chants the term backward class. However, the Congress party has always been against the backward classes, he added.