Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge that Congress would make use of the quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to hand over reservation to Muslims, and asserted that for the Congress every Indian is its vote bank.
In a letter to PM Modi, Kharge said the former was sounding “desperate”, “diverting from the real issues”, and urged him to seek votes on the basis of the “government’s performance” instead “of indulging in hate speeches”. Kharge also sought to reassure everyone in the wake of the “inheritance tax row”, stressing that the party stands for “justice for all”.
Kharge, whose earlier offer to brief the PM on the exact contents of the Congress election manifesto had failed to evoke any response, again wrote to the PM, basing it on Modi’s earlier letter to the NDA allies. “I saw the letter written by you to all NDA candidates about what they need to communicate to the voters. From the tone and content of the letter it seems that there is a lot of desperation and worry in you which is leading you to use language that does not suit the office of the Prime Minister,” Kharge said.
After elaborating on five sets of “nyay” (justice) Congress manifesto had promised as its guarantees, Kharge rejected the PM’s allegation that Congress was planning a Muslim quota. “In your letter you claim that reservation will be taken away from SC, ST and OBC and given to ‘our vote bank’. Our vote bank is every Indian – the poor, the marginalised, the women, the aspirational youth, the labour class, the Dalits and the Adivasis. Everyone knows it is RSS and BJP who opposed reservations at every stage since 1947… Everyone knows it is RSS and BJP which wants to change the Constitution to end reservation,” he said.
About the charge that Congress would bring inheritance tax, Kharge said, “Your letter lies that Congress wants to bring inheritance tax when it is your former finance minister and your party leaders who have repeatedly mentioned they want inheritance tax… I would like to take this opportunity to request you to direct your party to return the ₹10 crore that were swindled from the poor Dalit farmers in Gujarat and given as electoral bonds to BJP. Your party amassed ₹8,250 crore through the ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ electoral bonds.”
