Quota won’t cut into share of Dalits, tribals, OBCs, says PM Narendra Modi

Modi also referred to Opposition allegations over the timing of the Bill, and said they reinforced his push to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

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PM Narendra Modi with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at a rally in Agra on Wednesday. (Express photo: Gajendra Yadav)

HOURS BEFORE the Constitution Amendment Bill to provide 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections in the general category was passed in the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Opposition in two separate speeches Wednesday in UP and Maharashtra of “spreading lies” about the legislation and said the new quota would not cut into the share of Dalits, tribals and OBCs.

Modi also referred to Opposition allegations over the timing of the Bill, and said they reinforced his push to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

“I had been saying that if somebody promises reservation above 50 per cent, they are dishonest. Because it could not be done beyond 50 per cent without a Constitution amendment… I am happy that what I had said as Chief Minister (of Gujarat), I have executed as Prime Minister with this Constitution amendment,” PM said while addressing a public meeting in Agra.

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“Without cutting from the shares of Dalits, tribals and OBCs, I have shown concern for the poor children of upper castes of the country by making the additional Constitution amendment,” he said.

Referring to allegations that the Bill was introduced with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls, Modi said: “Do six months pass without an election in any part of the country? If I had done this three months earlier, it would have been said that the move has been taken ahead of the elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh… In India, elections occur at least twice in a year, in some part of the country, and hence I say Lok Sabha and Assembly elections should be held simultaneously, once in five years.”

Earlier, addressing a gathering in Solapur, Modi said the smooth passage of the quota Bill in the Lok Sabha was a “strong reply” by Parliament to those “spreading lies” and stressed that the government’s move was in line with its “mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”.

“Last night, the Lok Sabha passed a historic Bill. By approving 10 per cent reservation for poor from the general category, it has strengthened the mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. The BJP wants to ensure that every category of people get an opportunity to move ahead,” he said.

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Modi said that “some people in the name of reservation were trying to take something out of the quota given to Dalits, tribals, OBCs, and some were bent on doing minority politics. We have shown them that nobody can take out anything from the quota of Dalits, tribals, OBCs… ,” he said.

“Those who tried to spread lies, the Parliament gave a befitting reply yesterday, gave them a tight slap on their face. They will have no strength to spread lies,” Modi said.

Lalmani Verma

Lalmani is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, and is based in New Delhi. He covers politics of the Hindi Heartland, tracking BJP, Samajwadi Party, BSP, RLD and other parties based in UP, Bihar and Uttarakhand. Covered the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, 2019 and 2024; Assembly polls of 2012, 2017 and 2022 in UP along with government affairs in UP and Uttarakhand. ... Read More

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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