Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah during the Backward Class Samman Sammelan in Mahedragarh, Haryana on Tuesday
- July 17, 2024
- Updated: 12:35 am
DW BUREAU / Chandigarh
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday accused the Congress of being anti-backward classes and said if the party comes to power in Haryana, it will snatch reservation for them and give it to Muslims. Addressing a 'Backward Classes Samman Sammelan' here, Shah referred to the Kaka Kalelkar Commission formed in the 1950s to provide reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and said the Congress did not implement its recommendations for years.
"In 1980, (the then prime minister) Indira Gandhi put the Mandal Commission in cold storage. In 1990, when it was accepted, Rajiv Gandhi gave a two-and-a-half-hour speech and opposed OBC reservation," the Union minister said.
"In Karnataka, the Congress snatched reservation for backward classes and gave it to Muslims. The same will happen here if they come (to power) here," Shah said.
"I want to assure you that we (BJP) will not allow Muslim reservation in Haryana. We will protect the rights of backward classes," he said.
He asserted that the BJP would form the government in Haryana with a full majority.
The Haryana Assembly elections are scheduled to be held later this year. When Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, he had said that his government was of Dalits, the poor and backward classes, said Shah.
The BJP has given the country its first strong prime minister who comes from a backward class. Twenty-seven Union ministers are from backward classes including two from Haryana, the home minister said.
Shah said the Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini-led Haryana government recently took three important decisions for backward classes, including increasing the annual income limit for the creamy layer of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh. Salary and agricultural income are excluded from the ambit.
Shah said earlier, in panchayats, there was 8 per cent reservation for backward classes in 'Group A'. Now, in addition to this, 5 per cent reservation will be provided in 'Group B'. In municipal bodies as well, 5 per cent reservation will be introduced for 'Group B' while the 8 per cent will remain intact, he said.
(editor@dailyworld.in)
