BJP Rajya Sabha MP Brij Lal on Monday accused the Congress and its allies of attempting to change the Constitution with an aim to giving reservation on religious grounds to Muslims.
Mr. Lal, who was the former Director-General of Police of Uttar Pradesh, also accused the Opposition of misleading people from the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and other disadvantaged Hindu groups against the Narendra Modi government.
The Opposition parties, including the Congress, have targeted the BJP, saying that if it returned to power at the Centre, the BJP would rewrite the Constitution and do away with the reservation policy.
Hailing from the Scheduled Castes, Mr. Lal said the Congress had amended the Constitution multiple times in the past and even suspended its provisions to impose the Emergency in 1975.
“There is a narrative going on these days which is misleading people, especially Dalits, against Modi government, that BJP will end reservation if it comes to power again. But the fact is that it is the Congress that had been against reservation since beginning. In 1961, Jawaharlal Nehru had written a letter to all the CMs of India that he doesn’t like reservation. Also, it was Rajiv Gandhi who had argued that the Constitution can be changed if needed,” Mr. Lal, who headed the parliamentary panel that scrutinised the three criminal laws, said.
Mr. Lal alleged that the Congress had snatched reservation of the Other Backward Classes in Karnataka and given it to Muslims on religious grounds, which he said was a violation of the Constitution. He also claimed that in undivided Andhra Pradesh, reservation was given to Muslims from the SC/ST and OBC quotas.
“In the Constitution prepared by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, there was no provision of reservation on the basis of religion. The same is being held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who time and again, reiterated that no one can change the Constitution, as envisaged by Babasaheb,” he added.
Hailing the Modi government’s decision to revoke the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, Mr. Lal said the action was most beneficial for the SCs, the STs, and the OBCs. He said the Congress had spoken against the removal of Article 370.
“It was Congress which ensured that disadvantaged Hindu groups did not get reservation benefits in government-funded universities like Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia,” he added.
Attacking the Samajwadi Party (SP), which is in alliance with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Lal alleged that the party had been against Dalits.
“Over a lakh SC employees were demoted when Akhilesh Yadav took charge as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
