In perhaps the first articulation of Modi govt’s opposition to the demand by Congress and a few others for lifting the SC-mandated 50% cap on quota, home minister Amit Shah said, “They (Congress) do not want any welfare of the OBCs, they want to give reservations to Muslims by increasing the limit of 50%… But today, once again I say with all responsibility in this House that as long as BJP has even one MP, we will not allow reservation on the basis of religion.”
Shah was replying to the two-day debate in Rajya Sabha to mark 75 years of the Constitution. He also asserted that BJP would bring Uniform Civil Code in every state through democratic processes.
Will bring UCC in every state, says Shah, attacks Congress
BJP will bring UCC in every state, home minister Amit Shah asserted on Tuesday, while attacking Congress for harping on “reservations” during the recent election campaigns, alleging it was a ploy to give reservations to Muslims by increasing the quota limit beyond 50%.
Replying to the two-day debate to mark 75 years of the Constitution, Shah said in RS that BJP had already implemented UCC in Uttarakhand and the “model law” would be promulgated in all states in the country through democratic processes.
He emphasised that the country’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru had brought in the Muslim Personal Law instead of UCC, which was favoured by B R Ambedkar and other stalwarts in the Constituent Assembly. “This marked the beginning of politics of appeasement in the country” and Congress is to clarify if it supports the Muslim Personal Law,” he said. “In a secular country, should there be a common law or not?” he said, while dismissing Congress’s protests with the retort, “Then why don’t you extend Shariah also to criminal offences which would require hands of thieves to be chopped off and others to be stoned to death?”
In perhaps the first articulation of Modi govt’s opposition to the demand by Congress and a few others for lifting SC-mandated 50% cap on quota, by saying that it was a ploy to smuggle in quotas for Muslims, Shah asserted, “They (Congress) do not want any welfare of OBCs, they want to give reservations to Muslims by increasing the limit of 50%… But today, once again I say with all responsibility in this house that as long as BJP has even one MP, we will not allow reservation on the basis of religion.”
Accusing Congress of “appeasement, dynastic politics and corruption” in his 90-minute speech, Shah said the party had brought in reservations based on religion in two states it ruled, which was “unconstitutional”.
Shah said Congress had always been against reservations for OBCs, having first ignored the Kaka Saheb Kalelkar Commission in the 1950s and then the Mandal Commission in the 1980s, stressing that its words never matched its actions. He also said that Congress never respected Ambedkar either who had to quit the Nehru cabinet due to serious differences over issues like Article 370.
Congress’ continuing invocation of Ambedkar was a sham as they never respected him, Shah said. He emphasised that Nehru had no regret when Ambedkar quit following policy differences on issues such as Article 370.
He attacked Congress for its “Constitution-is-in-danger” campaign. “This was the biggest-ever fraud perpetrated. It may have worked in LS polls but now people have seen through it and that is why Congress suffered a rout in Maharashtra,” he said.
Taking on Congress over its claim to be the defender of the Constitution, he said that a momentous decision like the imposition of Emergency was taken through a demi-official note and by bypassing the Cabinet. “Indira Gandhi’s attorney general Niren De asserted in court that right to life is not available to citizens during Emergency. Eighteen HC judges, 4 of them Chief Justices, were transferred only because they had admitted habeas corpus pleas,” he said.
“The 54-year-old leader who calls himself ‘yuva’, keeps roaming around with the Constitution claiming that we will change it. I want to say that the provision to amend the Constitution is within the Constitution. The Constitution itself provides for amendments. What matters is the end sought to be achieved. While Congress treated the Constitution as its fief to curtail rights and protect the interests of one family, the changes under BJP were meant for the social good,” he said.