Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hit out at the Telangana government for proposing religion-based reservation with 12 per cent quota for Muslim minority, saying it was betraying the country and insulting Constitution architect BR Ambedkar.
Addressing an election rally, Modi said great leaders of the country, while framing the Constitution, had decided against religion-based reservation at any cost in the interest of the nation's unity and integrity and for its bright future.
In an attack on caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Modi said he was surprised that "these power-hungry people, to save their chair for their family, resorted to such a step".
"Minority ko aarakshan dene ka khel, yeh desh ke saath gaddari hai ki nahi? (Playing this game of promising quota to the minorities, is it not betrayal to the nation)?" he said and wondered how the promise will be met as the current Supreme Court's order does not permit it. "Is it not an insult to the Constitution Assembly, is not an insult to B R Ambedkar...?" Modi asked.
"The Supreme Court has put a ceiling (of 50 per cent). You can't go beyond that. Does it mean that you would steal from the rights (quota) of Dalits, STs, and OBCs?" he asked.
"To save your chair, you are conspiring to steal their rights (Dalits, STs and OBCs) from the back door? Will you allow that sin to happen... should there be religion-based reservation?" he asked the crowd.
He also rebutted Congress president Rahul Gandhi's charge that the TRS is a "B" team of the BJP, saying it the KCR-led party was the "B" team of the Congress.
The Prime Minister pointed out that before the Karnataka Assembly polls, "Naamdar (Gandhi) had described the JDS as 'B' team of the BJP but after the results were declared, they joined hands and formed the government."
"He (Gandhi) speaks so many lies," Modi said, alleging that the Congress was already engaged in "back door talks to somehow stop the BJP (from coming to power in Telangana)".
Modi said that four of the five parties in contention in the Telangana elections — the TRS, Congress, TDP and AIMIM — perpetuate dynastic and family rule. "They (these four parties) are becoming a threat to democracy," he said, adding that "there is only one party...BJP, which is democratic".
He said many people have sacrificed their lives during the struggle for creation of a separate state of Telangana. Targeting the TRS chief, Modi said "nobody has given one family the right to loot".
The Prime Minister also recalled that Rao was earlier in the Youth Congress and also had his first "apprenticeship" in the TDP, noting that he was once with that party. He said that Rao was also a minister in the UPA-I. TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were his "Gurus", he said.
Slamming the electoral alliance between the Congress and the TDP, Modi said that NTR founded the latter in the name of "Telugu pride" and fought against the Congress. He claimed that the two parties have come together "only for the sake of power". The TDP has also become a dynastic and family-ruled party, he said. Modi said that the Congress and the TRS are "two sides of the same coin".
He said about Rs 30,000 crore worth of centrally-funded projects and Rs 8,000 crore worth railway projects are currently being implemented in the state.
The prime minister slammed Rao over his government's decision not to join the PMJAY health insurance scheme.
"He (KCR) says he does not want Ayushman Bharat scheme. If there is a government creating such hurdles, how can there be your (people's) welfare?"
Over 1.25 crore families have been handed over keys of their house so far during the NDA regime, Modi said.
Only 5,000 houses were built in Telangana. "When the central government is providing funds, why is the state government not taking it up?" he asked.
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