The BJP on Monday claimed that it is the Congress and its allies which intends to change the Constitution to give reservation to Muslims on religious grounds, as the ruling party accused them of misleading Dalits and other disadvantaged Hindu groups against the Modi government.
Levelling this charge, BJP MP Brij Lal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reiterated time and again that no one can change the Constitution, as envisaged by Bhim Rao Ambedkar.
The former IPS officer, who comes from the Scheduled Castes, told reporters that it is the Congress which has amended the Constitution the most number of times and even suspended its provisions to impose the Emergency in 1975.
The Congress and its allies are spreading this narrative to mislead people, especially Dalits, that the BJP will end reservation, Brij Lal said, speaking on an issue over which the two main contenders for power have been targeting each other during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
Brij Lal, who headed the parliamentary panel that scrutinised the three criminal laws later passed by Parliament, cited comments of Jawahar Lal Nehru to claim that the first prime minister was not a votary of reservation and added that Rajiv Gandhi had argued that the Constitution can be changed if needed.
It is the Congress that provided reservation to Muslims in undivided Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka on religious grounds, in violation of the Constitution, he said.
The Rangnath Mishra commission appointed by the then-Congress government at the Centre had spoken in favour of including those Muslims who were earlier in the Scheduled Castes for quota benefits meant for Dalits, he said.
He said the Modi government’s decision to repeal Article 370 was most beneficial for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, while the Congress has spoken against its removal.
The Congress has always been anti-reservation and against BR Ambedkar, Brij Lal claimed. Dalits believe that a Congress government will include Muslims in the reservation meant for them, he said, adding that the party, when it was in power, ensured that disadvantaged Hindu groups did not get reservation benefits in government-funded institutions such as Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia.
Congress allies such as the Samajwadi Party has been most opposed to the interests of Dalits, Brij Lal alleged, noting that more than a lakh Scheduled Caste government employees were demoted when Akhilesh Yadav was Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
