'Muslims will corner all benefits': BJP brings up 1984 ad to attack Cong over quotas

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday countered opposition's criticism over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Ek hai toh safe hai' slogan by pulling out Congress's "anti-reservation" campaign ad from the 1984 general election, claiming that "only Muslims will corner all benefits" if the grand-old-party comes to power.

Taking to X, BJP IT head Amit Malviya shared an image of the advertisement and accused Congress of preparing to end reservations meant for the SC, ST, and OBCs.

"The hypocrisy of Congress. In 1984, Congress (I) then sought votes against caste identity. It wanted to end reservations then and was putting forth bizarre arguments. But the same Congress now wants to divide India along caste lines so that it can somehow crawl back to power," Malviya said.


"In 1984, Congress was preparing to end reservations meant for the SC, ST and OBCs. This ad was one such attempt. It exposes their nefarious plans. Recently, during his US visit, Rahul Gandhi again spoke about scrapping reservations. Left to the Congress, there would be no reservations for the backwards. Muslims alone will corner all benefits. " he added.



Earlier in the day, PM Modi also accused Congress of opposing reservations for marginalized communities. During an online interactive session of the 'Mera Booth Sabse Majboot' initiative with BJP workers, PM Modi also cited the advertisement by Congress that he said reflected the party’s anti-reservation attitude.

“Today, I came to know about an old Congress advertisement that was shared on social media. I was shocked by the content they used to publish during the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi. This particular advertisement depicted SCs, STs, and OBCs in a negative light, indicating that giving reservations to these communities would harm the country’s progress,” PM Modi said.

“For years, Congress suppressed voices advocating for the rights of marginalized communities. From the time of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi, members of the so-called 'royal family' of Congress were staunchly against reservations,” he added.

“It was only when people began to understand the vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar, and when SC, ST, and OBC communities came together, that Congress started losing its dominance. Since then, they haven’t managed to form a full majority government at the Centre. They are ruling only a few states,” PM Modi added.

This comes days after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP of having some "rotten thoughts" for believing in 'Batenge toh katenge'.

"The BJP has some rotten thoughts, it believes in 'Batenge toh katenge'," Kharge had said while addressing an election rally in Ranchi.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.