NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the day communities get divided in India, the Congress will succeed in its conspiracy to fragment the country, return to power and will dismantle constitutionally guaranteed reservations.
Flagging an old Rajiv Gandhi-era advertisement where the Congress sought votes in the name of merit, comparing quotas with bondage, the PM said, “The Congress royal family has always been opposed to reservations and is now seeking to divide castes for votes.”
The Congress advertisement that Modi spoke of read: “Give equality a hand; will your destiny be decided by birth or merit? India could be your vote away from equality or bondage.”
The advertisement, which reflected the Congress’ then anti-reservation line, was amplified by several BJP leaders led by Modi today with Jharkhand and Maharashtra set for polls.
Modi made a mention of the advertisement while speaking to BJP booth workers in Jharkhand. He said there was a time when the Congress was in power from panchayat to Parliament, but no one dared to talk about reservations.
“The Congress crushed all pro-quota voices. The royal family of the Congress was always opposed to reservations. The Congress kept benefitting till the time SCs, STs and OBCs remained fragmented. The moment they united, the Congress faced electoral challenges,” Modi said.
He argued that it was the unity of OBCs (around Mandal Commission report and reservation demand politics) in 1990s that caused the Congress’ electoral bankruptcy.
“OBCs could unite only in 1990s and when they did, the Congress became electorally bankrupt. It could never again form a full majority government after that,” Modi told BJP workers asking them to warn local communities against the “Congress-JMM conspiracy to fragment people.”
He said unity of communities was the reason the Congress had shrunk to three states, while the BJP and NDA ruled in states wherewith high proportion of SCs, STs and OBCs in their population.
“Lack of power is the reason Congress royal family is angry and has decided to break up SCs, STs and OBCs. They want to divide every community into sub-castes, which will weaken them. The day this happens and communities lose their collective strength, the Congress will succeed in its conspiracy and will dismantle reservations. That is why I am saying – ek rahenge to safe rahenge. All OBCs, STs and SCs should stick together,” Modi said, at a time when the Congress led by party president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader Rahul Gandhi are aggressively pushing the caste census pitch.
Pinki Khoya, a Jharkhand BJP worker, in her conversation with the PM today admitted that people were talking about caste census in villages and the BJP was trying to tell them how the “Congress and the JMM had looted their lands – not just community lands but also lands meant for religious purposes.”