In his two different election rallies on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued his attack on the Congress, addressing the current controversy over wealth redistribution, a dispute over forced Constitution in Goa, and alleging that the grand old party never allows the recitation of Hanuman Chalisa and the celebration of Ram Navmi within the Congress-ruled States.
In his Rajasthan tour, Modi said the Congress tried to extend reservation on the basis of religion and give it to Muslims, and once again accused the party of hatching a “deep conspiracy” to snatch people’s wealth and distribute it among “select” people.
Modi also charged that it is difficult to follow one’s faith under the Congress and that even listening to Hanuman Chalisa becomes crime under that party’s rule. His remarks come on a day when the country is celebrating Hanuman Jayanti.
Addressing an election rally in Tonk, the Prime Minister said as soon as the Congress formed the Government at the Centre in 2004, one of its first task was to reduce the SC/ST reservation in Andhra Pradesh and give it to Muslims.
“Modi is giving you a guarantee with an open heart that reservation for Dalits and backward tribals will neither end nor will it be allowed to be divided in the name of religion,” he said.
Amid a row over his ‘redistribution of wealth’ remarks, the Prime Minister again charged that the Congress will snatch people’s wealth and distribute it to select people.
Modi said the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had given a speech in which he had said that Muslims have the first right on the resources of the country.
“There was a pilot project which the Congress wanted to try in the entire country. Between 2004 and 2010, the Congress tried to implement Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh four times but due to legal hurdles and the awareness of the Supreme Court, it could not fulfil its intention,” Modi claimed.
“In 2011, the Congress tried to implement it throughout the country. They played a game of snatching away the rights given to SC, ST and OBC and giving them to others for vote bank politics. The Congress did this deliberately and without caring about the Constitution and B R Ambedkar,” he said.
Modi alleged when the BJP Government in Karnataka got an opportunity, the first thing it did was to abolish the Muslim quota which was created by snatching it from ST and SC. The Prime Minister said the constitutional limit for reservation was ending in 2020 and he had extended the reservation of Dalit and tribals for another 10 years. The Congress and INDIA Bloc, Modi said, were peeved after he exposed their vote bank and appeasement politics in his recent address in Rajasthan’s Banswara.
Attacking the Congress, Modi said, “Even listening to Hanuman Chalisa becomes crime under Congress rule” and referred to an incident in Congress-ruled Karnataka where a shopkeeper was beaten up for listening to Hanuman Chalisa.
He said during the Congress rule in Rajasthan, those who pelted stones on Ram Navmi procession were given protection and restrictions were imposed on such procession.
However, after the formation of the BJP Government in the State, no one has the courage to question faith.
“Now, you will recite Hanuman Chalisa peacefully and also celebrate Ram Navami, this is the guarantee of BJP,” he said. The prime minister also accused the Congress of throwing Malpura, Karauli, Chhabra, Tonk and Jodhpur into the “fire of riots” during its rule.
In another poll rally at Sakti in Chhatisgarh, Modi again hit out at Congress over a remark by its Goa candidate that the Constitution was imposed on the coastal state, and said it was a “ploy” to break the country.
“Congress is not able to digest the participation of Dalits, Adivasis and backward classes in power. Now the party has started a big game. Earlier a Congress MP from Karnataka said south India should be declared a separate country, now a Congress candidate from Goa said the Indian Constitution is not applicable in Goa,” he said.
“He is saying the Constitution was forced on Goa. He has told this to ‘shehzade’ (apparently referring to Rahul Gandhi)...Isn’t this an insult to Babasaheb Ambedkar? Isn’t this an insult to the Constitution? Is this not tampering with the Constitution of India?” the prime minister asked.
“People of Jammu and Kashmir also used to say...You gave blessings (to BJP), now their mouths are shut. Now the Constitution of India is in force there (after the abrogation of Article 370),” he said.
The Congress candidate (in Goa) made this statement publicly and said he told his leader about it, which means his leader has given a tacit consent to it, Modi said, in apparent swipe at Rahul Gandhi.
“It is a ploy to break the country. A huge part of the country has rejected Congress, and therefore the party wants to create such small islands,” he claimed.
The prime minister was referring to Congress candidate from South Goa, Viriato Fernandes, who said on Monday that then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said that Goa will decide its own destiny after it was liberated from Portuguese rule, but “this did not happen”, and the Indian Constitution was “forced” on the state.
