Banaskantha (Gujarat): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday claimed the Congress wants to give reservation on the basis of religion, and challenged the party and its INDIA alliance constituents to give a guarantee in writing that they will never do so.
Addressing a rally at Deesa town of Banaskantha district ahead of voting for the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat, PM Modi said as long as he and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were around, reservation in jobs and education granted to SCs/STs/OBCs, and economically weaker sections will be safeguarded.
“I challenge the ‘shehzada’ (prince) of the Congress (referring to Rahul Gandhi), as well as his party and its supporters to announce they will never misuse reservation in the name of religion, nor will they play with the Constitution or grant reservation in the name of religion,” emphasised the BJP stalwart.
“The Congress should give in writing that they would not give reservation based on religion,” PM Modi said.
The PM asserted that as long as he is around, he will not allow anyone to “play the game of reservation”.
“The Congress and its people should listen carefully that this is Modi. As long as Modi is alive, I will not let you play the game of reservation in the name of the Constitution,” he said.
Gujarat, the home state of Modi, will vote on May 7 in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday advised Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge not to tell “lies” for the sake of the Gandhi family. He warned that eventually Mallikarjun Kharge would be “sacrificed” by the Gandhi family for the poll loss after results are declared on June 4.
Amit Shah said, “Kharge ji says, if Modi comes to power, the poor will be destroyed. I want to ask Kharge ji, didn’t 25 crore poor people benefit when they were brought out of poverty? Isn’t giving ration to 80 crore poor people beneficial for the poor? Didn’t the poor benefit due to the construction of 12 crore toilets, giving of gas cylinders to our mothers, providing tap water in their homes and treating seven crore people (through health insurance)?”
“Kharge ji, you do not know that they do not care for anyone… As Congress suffers a defeat on June 4 (when results of the Lok Sabha elections will be announced), the brother-sister duo (referring to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) will remain safe, but the 80-year-old Kharge ji will be blamed,” Shah said.
Amit Shah made the remarks while addressing a poll rally at Katghora town in Chhattisgarh

Agencies