Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah while addressing an election rally at Bihar’s Ara on Friday, appealed to people to bless the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with over 400 seats, so that reservation for Muslims could be scrapped and given back to the Backward Classes. Mr. Shah also launched a blistering attack on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, alleging that he neither worked for welfare of the Yadav community he belongs to, nor for benefit of people from other backward communities.
“You bless us [NDA] with over 400 [seats] and the BJP would scrap Muslim reservation and return it to the Backward Classes”, Mr. Shah appealed to the people while addressing a public meeting supporting BJP candidate Raj Kumar Singh alias R.K. Singh at Veer Kunwar Singh stadium. “In Karnataka, 5% reservation has been given to the Muslims while in Hyderabad, the community has been getting 4% reservation which actually belongs to the Backward Classes”, he said. Referring to a recent Calcutta High Court verdict, Mr. Shah said the court has also observed that such reservations are “illegal”. “The NDA under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji will not allow this to happen. The Congress, Lalu Prasad and [West Bengal Chief Minister] Mamata Banerjee are against reservations to Backward Classes”, alleged Mr. Shah, adding, “They [Congress-RJD] are trying to rob reservation of OBCs, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, to give it to Muslims”.
Union Minister Singh is seeking re-election from Ara constituency against Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) nominee Sudama Prasad. In the 2019 election, Mr. Singh had defeated CPI(ML) candidate Raju Yadav by 1.47 lakh votes. Ara, the district headquarters of Bhojpur in central Bihar, was infamously known as a “flaming field” for caste wars, massacres, and counter-killings between members of the upper castes and backward and extremely backward castes (EBCs). Hundreds lost their lives in such caste wars in Bhojpur. The CPI(ML) mainly draws supporters from EBCs and OBCs while Mr. Singh, coming from an upper caste Rajput community, largely depends on upper caste votes and popularity of Mr. Modi to hit a hat-trick from the seat. “If CPI(ML) candidate wins from Ara seat, Naxalism will once again return to Bihar”, warned Mr. Shah.
Mr. Shah further launched a blistering attack on Mr. Prasad alleging that he “neither worked for men of his caste nor for the welfare of backward classes”. “He promotes only his sons and daughters. He made his two sons Ministers, sent one daughter to Rajya Sabha while another contests the Lok Sabha election. He can’t think of the welfare of the people belonging to his own caste,” he alleged. “If Mr. Prasad, as part of the Opposition ghamandia [arrogant] INDIA bloc comes to power, jungle Raj, abduction and gang war will return to Bihar”, Mr. Shah warned, adding, “People don’t want return of the jungle raj-gang war-abduction industry in Bihar”.
Referring to the five phases of election which have already been completed in the State, Mr. Shah said Mr. Modi would be getting 310 seats and the “Lalu-Rahul Gandhi” alliance had been wiped out. “This ghamandia alliance would not be able to open its account in Bihar”, asserted Mr. Shah. Reffering to the construction and consecration ceremony of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, he said, “The Congress and Mr. Prasad had obstructed to it for over 70 years but Modi ji in his second term not only won the case but laid the foundation stone for the construction of Ram temple and inaugurated it too.”
The Union Home Minister reiterated that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is an “integral part of India” and the BJP-led NDA government would take it back. “It was the Modi government which abrogated Article 370 and controlled terrorism in the country. The BJP-led NDA government also eradicated Naxalism from Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra”. “Naxalism would be completely eradicated from Chhattisgarh after Modi government is voted to power for a third term,” he assured.
