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Lalu’s quota remark heats up poll pitch as Modi leads attack

By, Patna/bhopal/new Delhi
May 08, 2024 08:32 AM IST

Prasad clarified his remarks in the evening, saying reservation must be extended on the basis of social backwardness and not religion, but the issue had already snowballed into a political row.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said he is in favour of providing reservation “in full” to Muslims, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch an attack on the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) over what the latter said was a “deeper conspiracy” to snatch quotas of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Lalu’s quota remark heats up poll pitch as Modi leads attack
Lalu’s quota remark heats up poll pitch as Modi leads attack

Prasad clarified his remarks in the evening, saying reservation must be extended on the basis of social backwardness and not religion, but the issue had already snowballed into a political row. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that the former Bihar chief minister’s comments underlined the Opposition’s intention to provide reservation to Muslims at the cost of Dalits, tribals and backwards.

Without naming Prasad, Modi said: “Their leader, who has eaten the animal’s fodder and convicted by the court, even by the Supreme Court in the corruption case and is out on bail due to health… He is saying not only Muslims should get reservations but all the reservations should be given to Muslims. Means they want all the reservation for Muslims by snatching it from SCs, STs and OBCs”.

The reference to fodder was a clear allusion to Prasad, who was convicted in fodder scam cases in the state.

In the morning, Prasad had accused the ruling BJP at the Centre of wanting to do away with reservations by scrapping the Constitution. “The BJP is against the provision of reservations made in the Constitution. Hence, it wants to do away with both,” he told reporters in Patna.

On BJP’s claim that the INDIA bloc wants to ensure reservation to Muslims on the basis of religion, Prasad said: “Muslims should get reservation in full”.

In the evening, Prasad clarified that he was in favour of reservations for Muslims but emphasised that quotas should be based on social backwardness and not religion.

“There are hundreds of social groups which got reservations as per the Mandal Commission report. But it was not done on the basis of religion. In the Constitution, there is no provision for reservations on religious basis,” he said.

Reacting to Modi’s remarks, he said: “I am senior to Narendra Modi (in politics). He does not know many things that I know. It was during my reign that Mandal Commission recommendations were implemented (in Bihar).”

He reiterated the allegation that “Narendra Modi and his party want to scrap the Constitution and do away with reservations”.

“This is proven by the fact that the previous BJP government headed by late Atal Bihari Vajpayee had set up a commission to review the Constitution,” he said.

Modi, during his attack at an election rally in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, said the Opposition is dependent on “this very vote bank” as everything else is over and “one by one all have left and ran away”.

“I have been saying the same thing about them for the last several days. I was saying that they would cut some part of the reservation and give it on the basis of religion but the conspiracy is deeper…They are saying on the day of voting that they want to give all the reservations of SCs, STs and OBCs to the Muslim community,” he said.

In recent weeks as part of his Lok Sabha campaign, Modi has attacked the Opposition, including the Congress, for wanting to redistribute both wealth and reservation benefits to Muslims, a claim the Opposition has denied.

On May 1, Modi challenged the Congress and its allies in the INDIA grouping to assure in writing that it will never provide religion-based quota. He also said that as long as he is alive, he will not allow anyone to “play the game of reservation”.

At another election rally in Bihar’s Darbhanga earlier on Tuesday, Modi said the framers of the Constitution, led by BR Ambedkar, had deliberated on the pros and cons of providing reservations based on religion and had decided against it. “Even (former) prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed reservations based on religion,” he said.

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi hit out at the INDIA bloc, saying Prasad’s remarks made it clear that the Opposition will provide reservation to the Muslims by amending the Constitution if it is voted to power at the Centre.

“Lalu Prasad said that full reservation should be provided to Muslims. The words, ‘pura ka pura’ (full), used by him in his statement are very serious. This makes it clear that they (INDIA bloc) want to provide reservation to Muslims from the share of SCs, STs and OBCs,” Trivedi told a press conference in Delhi.

(With agency inputs)

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