Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday claimed the Congress will snatch away the reservation accorded to the backward classes and give it to Muslims if it comes to power in Haryana.
Addressing the 'Backward Classes Samman Sammelan' in the state, the BJP leader claimed the Congress didn't implement for years the recommendations made by the Kaka Kalekar Commission regarding OBC reservation.
"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," the minister said.
Amit Shah said that in Karnataka, the Congress-led government gave the reservation to Muslims after snatching it from OBCs.
Also read: No reservation based on religion to Muslims as long as I am alive: PM Narendra Modi
"In Karnataka, the Congress snatched reservation for backward classes and gave it to Muslims. The same will happen here if they come (to power) here," Shah said.
{{/usCountry}}"In Karnataka, the Congress snatched reservation for backward classes and gave it to Muslims. The same will happen here if they come (to power) here," Shah said.
{{/usCountry}}He said the BJP won't allow reservation to Muslims in Haryana.
"I want to assure you that we will not allow Muslim reservation in Haryana," he said.
He said the BJP will form a government in Haryana with a full majority.
The Haryana assembly elections are due later this year.
The BJP has been raising the Muslim reservation issue for months. The matter was one of the main poll planks of the party in the recently concluded general elections.
The party won 240 Lok Sabha seats in the general elections and formed a coalition government at the Centre.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Manoharlal Khattar had resigned as the chief minister. Nayab Singh Saini, who belongs to the OBC community, became the new CM.
Shah today said the Nayab Singh Saini-led government recently increased the annual income limit for the creamy layer of OBCs from ₹6 lakh to ₹8 lakh.
Also read: Lalu says Muslims should get reservation ‘in full’, Modi says ‘snatching quota’
He also slammed Congress leader and former Haryana CM, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
"Hooda sahab, you have to give an account of 10 years of misgovernance and depriving Haryana of development," he added.
The Congress on Monday launched the 'Haryana Maange Hisab' campaign, under which it will target the ruling BJP on several fronts, including unemployment and law and order, ahead of the assembly polls.
With inputs from PTI