India’s Modi Insists on Anti-Muslim Remarks despite Backlash
It came after ‘mangalsutra, gold’ remark that sparked a “hate speech" row.
Addressing a speech in Rajasthan's Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Modi attacked the Congress, saying it wanted to reduce the “SC-ST reservation and distribute it among the Muslims" when it was in power at the Centre.
Continuing his scathing attack on Congress, he also said that the grand-old party was hatching a conspiracy to “snatch your property" and “distribute it among selected people".
Hinting at his earlier remark which led to a huge outcry from the Opposition parties, Modi accused Congress of following a policy of “appeasement".
The Indian prime minister said, “The day before yesterday in Rajasthan I put forth some truth in front of the country and the entire Congress and INDI alliance went into a panic. I put forth the truth that Congress is plotting to snatch your property and distribute it to their special people...When I exposed their politics, they got so angry that they started abusing Modi."
He added, “When the Constitution was drafted, reservation based on religion was opposed, so that SC, ST and OBC castes could get protection. Former PM Dr Manmohan Singh in his speech had said that Muslims have the first right on the country's resources. This was Manmohan Singh's statement. Congress's thinking has always been of appeasement and vote bank politics. As soon as the Congress government came to power at the Centre in 2004, its first task was to try to provide reservation to Muslims by reducing SC/ST reservations in Andhra Pradesh. This was a pilot project, which Congress wanted to try in the entire country. Between 2004 and 2010, Congress tried four times to implement Muslim reservations in Andhra Pradesh. However, due to legal hurdles and awareness of the Supreme Court, they could not fulfil his plans. In 2011, Congress tried to implement it across the country. They snatched the rights given to SC/ST and OBC and gave them to others for vote bank politics," Modi said.
“…they [Congress] wanted to grant reservation to one section of the society by cutting into the quotas meant for Dalits and backward classes, which is completely against the Constitution. The reservation rights that Dr. Babasaheb gave to Dalits, backward classes, and tribals, the Congress and the INDI Alliance wanted to give them to specific minorities based on religion," he stated.
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Earlier, addressing an election rally in Rajasthan's Banswara, a constituency with a sizeable Muslim population, Modi said the Congress was planning to distribute people’s property to those “with more children".
“… when their [Congress] government was in power, they had said that Muslims had the first right on the country's assets. This means to whom will this property be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have more children. It will be distributed to the infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve this?” Modi was quoted as saying by TOI.
“My mothers and sisters, they won't even leave your mangalsutras. The Congress manifesto says that if they form a government then a survey of property belonging to every person will be done. It will be checked how much gold our sisters own, how much money government employees have....They also said that gold owned by our sisters would be equally distributed. Does govt have the right to take your property?" Modi said.
The remarks sparked fierce criticism for peddling anti-Muslim expressions, and for breaking election rules which bar candidates from engaging in any activity that aggravates religious tensions. The Election Commission of India’s model code of conduct forbids candidates to “appeal to caste or communal feelings" to secure votes.
The remarks sparked fierce criticism against Modi for peddling anti-Muslim tropes, and for breaking Model Code of Conduct (MCC) that bars candidates from making speeches that can aggravate religious tensions.
Source: livemint.com
