In another attempt at damage control over the reservation issue in the last lap of the Bihar elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday said Mahagathbandhan leaders Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad had sought a review of the existing system in 2005 to provide for religion-based quotas. “Lalu and Nitish did not even see eye to eye. On July 23 and 24 in 2005, Lalu and Nitish babu came on a common stage and sought a review, relook and change in the reservation policy on religious basis. Ambedkar, other Constitution builders, Rajendra babu (Rajendra Prasad), Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had opposed reservation on the basis of religion,” Modi said.
Denying that the BJP wanted a change in the policy, he added, “Today when you are caught, you are rattled… you are accusing us of spreading communalism. Your darbari people (courtiers) sitting in Delhi cannot help you win. It is the people who decide, not the Jantar Mantar-types.” No political party in the country had “the power to take away and undo” reservation guaranteed to the weaker sections in the Constitution by B R Ambedkar, the PM said. Speaking at a massive rally in Katihar in Seemanchal, one of Bihar’s most backward regions, with a high concentration of Muslims, the PM also called for Hindu-Muslim unity to fight poverty. BJP leaders have been reiterating that they don’t want any change in the quota system ever since RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat stirred up a controversy seeking a review. “When I criticised them (Nitish, Lalu) over the games being played by them and highlighted their speeches in Parliament (favouring religion-based reservation), they panicked and even their ‘masters’ in Delhi had fever,” Modi said. Recalling one of his earlier speeches, the PM added, “We should decide who we must be fighting. Should Hindus fight with Muslims and should Muslims fight with Hindus? Or instead, should Hindus and Muslims fight unitedly to get rid of poverty? We should all fight together to eradicate poverty.”
