Jul 21, 2024 09:06 PM IST
Union home minister Amit Shah trained guns at Sharad Pawar ahead of Maharashtra assembly elections due later this year.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday launched a scathing attack on NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar, accusing him of being the “biggest mastermind of corruption in Indian politics.”
“They (the opposition) are speaking about corruption. The biggest mastermind of corruption in Indian politics is Sharad Pawar and I have no confusion in that. What will they accuse us of now? If somebody has done the job of institutionalising corruption, Sharad Pawar, it is you,” Shah said while addressing BJP workers and supporters at a conclave in Pune.
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Speaking on the contentious issue of Maratha reservations, the senior BJP leader accused Sharad Pawar of undermining efforts to secure reservations for the Maratha community.
“Whenever the BJP government comes to power in Maharashtra, Marathas get a reservation and whenever Sharad Pawar’s government comes to power, Maratha reservation disappears,” Shah claimed.
“Pawar government disables it whenever they get a chance. But I want to say that the 10-year extension was given only during the time of Modi Ji and despite having an absolute majority, the work of strengthening reservation was done by our leader Modi Ji,” he added.
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Citing his party’s role in securing reservations during its tenure, the home minister said, “In 2014, under Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister, you got the Maratha reservation. If you want to continue the Maratha reservation, you must make the BJP win.”
The Fadnavis government introduced a bill in November 2018, providing 16% reservation for the Maratha community under the category of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC). The reservation faced several legal challenges, primarily on the grounds that it violated the Supreme Court’s ruling, which capped reservations at 50%.
In June 2019, the Bombay high court upheld the Maratha reservation but reduced the quota from 16% to 12% in education and 13% in government jobs. The court also said that the total reservation in the state should not exceed the 50% cap set by the Supreme Court.
In May 2021, the Supreme Court struck down the Maratha reservation, declaring it unconstitutional. The Court ruled that the Maratha community could not be classified as Socially and Educationally Backward under the provisions of the law and that the state government had not demonstrated exceptional circumstances that justified exceeding the 50% cap on reservations.
Activist Manoj Jarange has been demanding reservation for the Maratha community under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. He has been leading protests demanding OBC certificates for recognizing all Kunbis (agriculturists) and their “sage soyre” (blood relatives) as Marathas.
