Bhartiya Janata party has upped its attacks on the Congress on the eve of assembly elections in Jharkhand.
Senior party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, have accused Congress of harbouring an anti-reservation ideology.
In a rally in Chirmur in Chandrapur, PM Modi accused the Congress of having an elitist mindset, that "has marginalised Dalits, backward classes and tribals for decades''.
Referring to an ad of 1984 under the Rajiv Gandhi, PM Modi said the party openly opposed quota for marginalised groups.
"In the Eighties, when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister the add reflected the party's anti reservation attitude,'' said Prime Minister.
"This showed their audacity to deny rights to Dalits, tribals and backward classes. They claimed reservation was unnecessary, openly speaking the language of the powerful,'' Times of India quoted the Prime Minister saying.
Prime Minister also attacked Rahul Gandhi saying "he has committed to ending reservation on foreign soil''.
In another rally in Jharkhand's Baghmara, Home Minister, Amit Shah also reiterated the same. Shah accused Congress of being against reservation of minority communities and trying to divide people.
He added PM Narendra Modi has reiterated that "the society can only have four categories- poor, farmers, youths and women, for the welfare of people'' .
“Rahul Gandhi’s four generations can’t touch your reservation," Shah added.
PM Narendra Modi during his visit to the tribal-dominated state, earlier had accused Congress of trying to `break the OBC community''.
The Prime Minister accused Congress of attacking the 'unity' of SC, ST and OBC communities in the country and trying to get rid of it in near future. PM Modi also suggested the importance of togetherness, he said, "“Ek rahenge to safe rahenge (We will be safe if we stand as one)."
BJP Brings Up Old Advertisement By Congress On Caste; Stirs Controversy
BJP IT head Amit Malviya on Monday in a post on X shared the images of an old advertisement of Congress that asked the public "Will you destiny be decided by your birth or your merit?"
He shared a video of PM Modi's commentary on unity and pointed out the 'hypocrisy' of Congress. Malviya in his post wrote, "The hypocrisy of Congress. In 1984, Congress (1) then sought votes against caste identity. It wanted to end reservations then and was putting forth bizarre arguments. But the same Congress now wants to divide India along caste lines so that it can somehow crawl back to power."
The BJP claimed that the particular campaign by Congress from 1984 was 'anti-reservation' and it is claimed that it suggested "only Muslims will corner all benefits".
This comes after Congress has repeatedly talked about their plan of doing a caste census in the country and the different states.
The '7 guarantees' in the INDIA bloc's election manifesto include social justice by enhancing reservations for STs to 28 percent, SCs to 12 percent, and OBCs to 27 percent from 26 percent, 10 percent, and 14 percent, respectively.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge during his rally in Jharkhand emphasised that the BJP spreads lies to people and divide them on the basis of religion.
Accusing the PM of being “Jhoothon Ka Sardar” (Head of liars), he charged Modi with devouring all that the people earn, without fulfilling promises.
“Akash me cheel udti hai to bolte hai bhains ud raha hai (If a kite flies in the sky, he says it is a buffalo),” he alleged.
Attacking the UP CM, Kharge said, “A true Yogi cannot use language like ‘batenge toh katenge’ (if divided, we will be wiped out). This language is used by terrorists. Yogi is head of a mutt, wears saffron robes, but believes in ‘mukh me Ram bagal me chhuri’.”
