Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Opposition parties on Wednesday of denying backward castes their rights by blocking the passage of a bill, which accords constitutional status to the backward classes commission, in the Rajya Sabha.
At an interaction with Other Backward Class (OBC) MPs from his party who had gathered to felicitate him for bringing the bill and getting it through the Lok Sabha, Mr. Modi expressed surprise at the stand of the Opposition as members of all parties had been urging him to bring the legislation.
“The bill was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha but blocked in the Rajya Sabha. Denying the backward sections their rights with such negative politics is regrettable,” the Prime Minister said. He also asked the BJP’s OBC MPs to reach out to their counterparts in other parties and convince them to support the legislation.
The Rajya Sabha had on Tuesday referred the Constitution (123rd) Amendment Bill, 2017, [which was passed as the Constitution 102nd Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday] to a Select Committee. This was done under pressure from the Opposition which felt that the bill encroached upon the rights of the States to include names of communities in the Central OBC, as it now handed that power to Parliament. The NDA does not have a majority in the Upper House.
