by In a multipronged attack on INDIA bloc at a rally in Bihars Darbhanga Modi accused RJD chief Lalu Prasad of having tried to save those responsible for the Godhra train burning in 2002 in which 59 kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive Lalu then railway minister in the Congressled UPA govt had constituted the Justice UC Banerjee committee which in its report in 2005 had given a clean chit to the accused, termed the blaze an accident However the court trashed the report, punished the guilty Modi saidHe accused Congress, RJD of favouring the main minority community by trying to dilute OBC SC, ST quotas Opposition parties are trying to distort the Constitution framed by BR Ambedkar, Ambedkar, others, even Nehru were against the idea of religionbased reservation PM said In a counterattack on the INDIA blocs charge that Modi would end reservations for backward people change the Constitution, finish democracy in the country the PM said he gets inspiration from Karpoori Thakur the former CM who was posthumously conferred Bharat Ratna by the Modi govt recentlyThey cant play with the quota for OBCs, SCSTs until Modi is alive They have lost their mental balance since I unmasked their faces They are silent on my question 12 days ago if they will give in writing not to snatch the quota from OBCs SCs, STs the PM saidModi claimed that when he Lalu was railway minister he had asked officials in 2007 to manage reservation in jobs for Muslims from OBC SCST quota Its like committing dacoity on the rights of Yadavs Kurmis Paswan Musahar, Dhanuk communities he saidWithout naming Lalus son, mer Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav Modi attacked him He called Tejashwi the shehzada of Patna like the one in Delhi Rahul Gandhi He said one treats the country, the other Bihar as their fiefdom since childhood, both have the same report card of scams
Published in The Times of India (Online) (05.05.2024)