No quota for minorities till BJP has even 1 MP or MLA: Shah

Nashik: Union home minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that the BJP "will never give reservation to the minorities in Maharashtra" till the time it has even one member in the parliament or the Vidhan Sabha (state assembly).Shah was addressing poll rallies at Raver in Jalgaon district and later at Malkapur, which is in Buldhana district but is a part of the Raver Lok Sabha constituency. He was speaking in the context of a letter by an outfit of Ulemas to the Congress demanding that the MVA must give 10% reservation to Muslims in Maharashtra if it comes to power.Shah said, "A delegation of Ulemas recently met Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, demanding that the reservation of scheduled caste, scheduled tribes (SC/STs) and other backward class (OBC) communities ‘should be done away with' and instead the Muslims must get reservation in the state. Patole has given written assurance to the delegation stating that once MVA forms the govt, the demand will be fulfilled."The union home minister said, "The MVA can meet the demand only by reducing the quota of SC/STs and OBCs as there is already 50% reservation in the state. As such, the quota of SC/STs and OBCs will be reduced if MVA comes to power as the Congress has given an assurance to the Ulemas," Shah added.He added, "People from SC/ST and OBC communities need not worry. Neither will MVA form the next govt in Maharashtra nor will BJP allow any reduction of quota of these communities. BJP will never give reservation to minorities in the state as long as the party has even one member in the parliament or one MLA in the state."Shah termed the Congress as ‘anti OBC' and said that Narendra Modi, after becoming the country's prime minister, took the initiative and ensured 27% reservation for OBCs in central govt institutions. "It was due to Modi's initiative that the union govt accorded constitutional status to National Commission for Backward Classes," said Shah.Shah appealed to the voters not to fall into the trap of the opposition who would raise issues related to castes during the poll campaign. "For Modi there are only four castes in the country at present--the poor, whose well-being is to be looked after, women, who need to be empowered, the youth, who need employment, and farmers who need proper irrigation facilities," said Shah.Referring to the MVA's election manifesto released on Sunday, Shah said the slew of guarantees promised in the manifesto is a "pack of lies that will abate corruption, nepotism and help the coalition to pursue the policy of appeasement"."Recently, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge advised the party functionaries in the poll-bound states to make guarantees judiciously that can be fulfilled and his statement had annoyed Rahul Gandhi. The party failed to fulfill the promises made during polls in Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana," said Shah.Shah said that the MVA is not ‘pro development' and had opposed big projects like that of the bullet train, Dharavi redevelopment, Coastal road, Pune ring road, Mumbai metro etc."When Congress was in power for 10 years at the Centre from 2004, Maharashtra got only Rs1.51 lakh crore. In the last 10 years our govt has provided over Rs10.15 lakh crore. Modi is keen to enhance Maharashtra's development further and it would be possible if Mahayuti comes back to power in the state," he added.Shah said that Rahul Gandhi will never speak well about the late freedom fighter Veer Savarkar and the late Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray. "I challenge UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray to ask Rahul to speak a few good words about these great personalities. But Rahul will not do so since the ideologies of all the coalition partners are different, but they have joined hands to grab power in the state," said Shah.
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