LUCKNOW: Accusing the Congress and INDIA bloc of systematic and organised plunder, PM Narendra Modi on Thursday reiterated that they tend to loot people during their lifetime and even after it ('Zindagi ke Saath bhi, Zindagi ke Baad bhi')."
Addressing an election rally in Kothi Meena market of Agra, the PM took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying: "The Shahzada’s X-ray machine now seeks to scrutinize the wardrobes of mothers and sisters." He was referring to the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's rhetoric over using an "X-ray machine" to scrutinize the belongings of ordinary citizens, including their cupboards and lockers. Agra, the city of the Taj, is set to vote along with nine other seats of western UP in phase-III on May 7.
He accused the INDIA bloc of planning to loot people's 'virasat' (ancestral property). “The Congress is looking at taking away 55% of that property leaving only 45% with you. Will you allow this to happen?” he asked the gathering while asserting that the opposition “will have to face Modi” before “usurping” the people’s possessions.
The PM also unleashed a broadside on the Congress accusing it of hatching a conspiracy to bring in religion-based reservation while denying SC/ST and OBC communities their due. He claimed that the OBC community was in the cross-hairs of the Congress and Samajwadi Party, which were looking to "steal" their reservation rights and hand it over to a “vote bank.”
“The country’s Constitution and judiciary stopped the Congress from doing this every now and then. Now the Congress has started playing the back door game. They are trying cheat SC/STs and OBCs by deciding to bring religion-based reservation,” Modi claimed while playing up the reservation issue at the rally in Agra, popularly known as the Dalit capital of UP.
He added that the Congress was trying to “steal” part of the 27% reservation given to OBC and allocate it on the basis of religion. “This has already been done in Karnataka where the Congress issued an order overnight and categorized various categories of Muslims as OBCs,” he said.
He claimed that a similar conspiracy was being hatched in UP, where the Congress was in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
Cautioning the OBCs of the “dangerous design of opposition,” the PM said that a similar attempt was made by the previous UPA government just before the 2012 UP assembly elections but it could not materialize. He asserted that the Samajwadi Party was, in fact, cheating its core Yadav vote bank in the name of communal appeasement.
Modi’s barb over religion-based reservation came a day after CM Yogi Adityanath whipped up the Ranganath Mishra and the Sachar Committee findings terming them “malicious attempts” to encroach up on the rights of Dalits and OBCs and giving them to Muslims. Both the panels were set up during the previous UPA government.
Moreover, the PM’s remarks were also seen as a counter to the opposition's caste census narrative.
Claiming that the Congress tended to insult Dr BR Ambedkar and the constitution regularly by pressing for reservation on the basis of religion in states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Modi said, “And now it is there in its election manifesto.”
Talking about social justice, the PM said it was achieved when rights of every section were safeguarded.
“We are focusing on the saturation of welfare schemes without discrimination and corruption,” he said, underscoring that “BJP’s secularism” was aimed at providing welfare measures without any discrimination on the basis of caste or religion.
Speaking on the Defence Corridor in Agra, which is one of the six nodes of the UP Defence Corridor, the PM said, "The corridor has unsettled individuals accustomed to amassing wealth through ties with international arms dealers. The previous administrations facilitated such transactions through corrupt practices, allowing arms brokers to operate with impunity."
He claimed that those vested interests harboured resentment towards his emphasis on indigenous weapon manufacturing and self-sufficiency in the field. "Their ire stems from the prospect of India's armed forces achieving autonomy in defence capabilities. Consequently, these factions have rallied together in opposition to Modi's initiatives," he said.
