PM says Congress, INDIA bloc conspiring to ‘steal’ quotas
Narendra Modi accuses Congress of being ‘blinded’ by vote bank politics, dividing the nation along religious lines; he warns that these ‘forces’ are trying to do something big to disrupt harmony
Launching a campaign blitz across western Maharashtra on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi provocatively accused the Opposition Congress and the INDIA bloc of hatching a conspiracy to aggravate social tensions. He also accused the Opposition of wanting to “steal” the reservation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to hand them over to Muslims in an act of political appeasement.
The thrust of Mr. Modi’s addresses in Solapur, Satara, and at the mega rally in Pune was that the Congress, “blinded” by vote bank politics, was reportedly dividing the country along religious lines. The PM launched broadsides on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, dubbing Mr. Gandhi’s ideas as “dangerous” while calling the 83year-old Mr. Pawar a “roving spirit” who was responsible for Maharashtra’s chronic political instability.
Alluding to the Congress and the INDIA bloc, he said: “Those people who cannot challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Democratic Alliance head-on are now spreading fake videos on social media. By using Articial Intelligence, statements that we would never have imagined of are being spread through our fake voices... sometimes in my voice, sometimes in Amit Shah or J.P. Nadda’s voice, and sometimes in the voices of our Chief Ministers [NDA CMs]. These people are deliberately trying to create a social conagration and are hatching a conspiracy to aggravate social tensions.”
Mr. Modi warned that in the coming days, these “forces” were trying to do “something big” in the country by way of disrupting social harmony. He requested the Election Commission to take stern action against those who were spreading such deepfake videos.
The PM lashed out at the Congress and Mr. Gandhi for reportedly attempting to snatch the reservation given to Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs in order to redirect them towards Muslims.
“You will be astonished with what the Congress is planning. The Constitution strictly forbids giving reservation along religious lines. After the SC rapped the Congress on this count, they have developed this ‘Karnataka model’ wherein overnight they took out a fatwa and made all Muslims into OBCs, snatching the latter’s 27% quota and leaving the OBCs in limbo,” he said, accusing the Congress of trying to tamper with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution and then deploy the tweaked Constitution across the country.
“But the Congress and INDIA bloc should beware that as long as Modi is alive, as long as the public’s blessings are with me, I will foil all your efforts at changing the Constitution in the name of religion,” Mr. Modi said.
In a blistering attack on Sharad Pawar, Mr. Modi said there were “some roving spirits” who keep upsetting not just the Opposition party but also cause disturbance within his party and his family.