Asserting that quotas were the “right” of dalits and the underprivileged that nobody could snatch, the PM said: “As I had said earlier, even if Ambedkar appears today, (even) he cannot snatch this rig
Asserting that quotas were the “right” of dalits and the underprivileged that nobody could snatch, the PM said: “As I had said earlier, even if Ambedkar appears today, (even) he cannot snatch this right of yours. What are we before Babasaheb ”
Last year, in the run-up to the Bihar Assembly polls, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said the reservations policy needed a review and even suggested a “non-political committee” be set up to examine who needs the benefit of reservations and for how long.
The BJP had to later issue numerous clarifications on the matter and its opponents, the JD(U) and RJD, did not let go of a single opportunity to score several brownie points, thus leading to their victory at the hustings in Bihar.
Laying the foundation stone for the Ambedkar National Memorial here Monday, the PM targeted his opponents, accusing them of “spreading confusion and lies” on the issue and rued that while it “serves their politics”, such things “weaken” the social fabric of the nation.
Mr Modi repeatedly asked “why it took 60 years” to do it and reminded everyone that Dr B.R. Ambedkar, as law minister, had to resign from Jawaharlal Nehru’s Cabinet owing to lack of backing for the Hindu Code Bill that was a progressive move aimed to codifying and reforming Hindu personal law in India by giving women equal rights in many spheres.
Terming it an “injustice” to call Dr Ambedkar only a messiah of dalits, the PM said he was the voice of all marginalised sections and was a “Vishwa Manav” (global citizen).
