Why is BJP saying Congress will reduce OBC reservation and give it to Muslims? Amit Shah says...

File photo of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Source: ANI.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has revealed why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been claiming that Congress will reduce OBC reservation and give it to Muslims if they are voted to power even when there is no such mention in the grand old party’s manifesto for Lok Sabha polls 2024.

In an interview to Network18 Group Editor Rahul Joshi, senior BJP leader Amit Shah cited what the Congress party has “already done” in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

“This is not mentioned in the Congress manifesto. This is what their government has already done in Karnataka,” Shah said.

‘Overnight all the Muslims of Karnataka were made backward’

The minister went on to say that, “Overnight all the Muslims of Karnataka were made backward. No survey to assess their backwardness was done, no commission was formed. All the people were declared backward on the basis of religion. And they were given reservation. And the reservation that was reduced was of OBCs.”

“Similarly, when they had government in united Andhra Pradesh, they gave reservation to Muslims. So, whose reservation was reduced? Of course, of SCs, STs, and OBCs,” the minister said.

“When I said that we would end the reservation on the basis of religion, then my video was doctored and presented before the public,” Shah said.

A fake video of Shah has been doing rounds on social media, where his statements from April 23 at the Vijaya Sankalp Sabha in Telangana, said “4 per cent unconstitutional Muslim would be abolished” if the BJP comes to power in the state.

“I want to say this: if the BJP forms a government, then this unconstitutional Muslim reservation will be abolished. These rights belong to SC, ST, and OBC, and it will be given to them by abolishing Muslim reservation,” Shah had actually said.

The BJP has alleged that the video showing Shah promising to scrap all reservations including those of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is “fake”.

Addressing a rally in Telangana’s Zaheerabad Lok Sabha constituency, PM Modi, on Wednesday, criticised the Congress saying he won’t allow the reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and other deprived groups to be given to Muslims based on religion.

“They (Congress) want to insult the Constitution for their vote bank. But I want them to know, till the time I am alive, I will not let them give the reservation meant for Dalits, SCs, STs, and OBCs to the Muslims in the name of religion,” the Prime Minister said.

Rahul Gandhi bringing down level of politics

Slamming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah, in the interview with Network18 further said after the Gandhi scion took over the command of the grand old party’s politics, “he has been consistently bringing down the level of politics in an unprecedented way.”

“You cannot debate in Parliament, they create chaos, boycott, not let people speak, not participate in debates, and then go out and tell the world that injustice is being done to them. What do they think about the people of this country? That the public does not know all this? The people of the country know all these things very well,” Shah said.

“There should be healthy debate in a democracy. And you people also do not ask them anything. You people should also ask. But you people ask questions only to us, you do not ask them,” the Union Minister said.