Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an interview with Asian News International (ANI) news agency on Tuesday that the Congress was the biggest enemy of minorities and that members of the newly formed opposition bloc were indulging in "vote bank politics".
He further said that the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) needed to be protected as the opposition parties were undermining the constitutional rights of the these groups.
He further said that the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) needed to be protected as the opposition parties were undermining the constitutional rights of the these groups.
The Prime Minister also explained why reservation has become a crucial issue in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"Election is such a time that I should make the countrymen aware of the biggest crisis that is coming," he said. "The basic spirit of the Constitution of India is being violated and that too for the sake of vote bank politics".
Modi, accused by the Congress of being anti-Muslim due to his statement that the opposition was trying to snatch reservation from SC, ST and OBC and give it to the Muslim community, insisted that he is "fighting against those who call themselves well-wishers" of the minority groups, but are in fact their "staunch enemies".
PM Modi’s Statement Presented in Wrong Way
"If the Prime Minister would have been anti-Muslim, then how come everyone, be it a Hindu or Muslim, is getting 10 per cent reservation under the economically weaker section category,” BJP OBC Morcha (Other Backward Class wing) National Executive Council member Atif Rasheed, who served as the vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, told Sputnik India, underlying that Modi's statement had been misinterpreted.
Accusing the Congress of manipulating the Constitution, Rasheed highlighted that reservation should be given across the country as per the fundamental principles, but the Congress has given reservation to Muslims in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (where the community has been getting 4 per cent reservation under the OBC category since 2007 under a separate category called BC-E).
At the same time, echoing Rasheed socio-political activist and medical doctor by profession Dr Faiyaz Ahmad Fyzie shared with Sputnik India that the Prime Minister was not talking about ending reservations for the Islam followers, but about ending it based on religion.
"Those who are saying that they will give reservation to the Muslim community are actually creating confusion because as of now there is no caste in the Muslim community which is not getting benefits under reservation," the panellist contended.
He further said that in the southern states of the country, all the castes of the Muslim community have been brought under the OBC category so that even those who are affluent also enjoy the benefits of reservation.
"In Karnataka, there is a category called 2B under OBC which is exclusive Muslim reservation and is anti-Constitutional. It was done to appease the Muslims," Fyzie said.
The situation is similar in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where all Muslims fall under the OBC category, he said.
Reservation Should be Constitutional
Sharing his views on the need for reservation, Rasheed highlighted that it is being as per the Constitution of India drafted by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar not for 10-20 yers but it "will be there as long as India exists". .
Meanwhile, Fyzie believes that the reservation should not be for life as it was conceived to uplift the downtrodden.
"If we see the Constitution, reservation for the Scheduled Caste was for 10 years in the starting and it was said that after 10 years analysis will be done whether it should continue or not. However, after its implementation there was no analysis done due to which only a few got its benefits," Fyzie said.
Regarding the prevention of abuse of the reservation, both experts argued that it can only be prevented by raising awareness among those who fall into the categories of those who use the reservation.
"Abolishing reservation is not the solution rather analysis should be done and those who have been uplifted should now be kept out of it," Fyzie stated.
Rasheed then added that those who are opposing the reservation are against it the Constitution.