No rethink on reservation policy: Narendra Modi

Mr Modi, who was on a one-day visit to Mumbai, also laid the foundation stones for the Grand Memorial of Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and two Metro corridors — one running from Dahisar to DN Nagar and the other from Dahisar (East) to Andheri (East) — at a public rally at MMRDA Grounds at the Bandra-Kurla Complex here.

Significantly, Shiv Sena leaders, including chief Uddhav Thackeray, totally avoided the function despite the Sena being one of the BJP’s oldest allies. Not a single leader of the Sena any of the Prime Minister’s functions. The party alleged they were given “secondary treatment” and thus decided to boycott the mega-event.

Unlike the Shiv Sena, all other BJP allies — Republican Party of India (Ramdas Athavale), Swabhimani Shetkari Sangthana (Raju Shetty) and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (Mahadev Jankar) — attended the programme. Other dalit factions were present too, including the Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh (Prakash Ambedkar), Republican Party of India (Rajendra Gavai) and Bahujan Republican Ekta Manch (Sulekha Kumbhare).

“Every time when a BJP government comes to power, a group of liars spreads the malicious propaganda that we want to scrap reservations. The same happened during the government of Atal Behari Vajpayeeji also,” Mr Modi said, and added: “Falsehood must be stopped. Terrorising backward classes must end. This is not politics.”

The reservations policy became an issue in the Bihar polls after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement calling for a review of the entire policy on reservations. The PM said this rumour-mongering starts every time an election is near. “Just before every election the Opposition starts a debate on reservations. However, this is something which Babasaheb Ambedkar has given us and no power can take it away,” he stressed, ruling out any possibility of scrapping the reservations system.

Addressing the large gathering at the MMRDA Grounds, the PM said: “It was an honour for me to lay the foundation stone for the Grand Memorial of Dr Ambedkar on the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan, especially as Dr Ambedkar was the architect of the Indian Constitution and JP was the one who fought for upholding the spirit of the Constitution during the Emergency.”

Space, sea and technology are the future of India’s growth, the PM said. “Today I can proudly say that the speed at which we are working, I am sure things will get better. We believe in co-operative and competitive federalism. The previous government did not work, and I will not talk about it, but today I can proudly say we are constructing more than 15 km of highways daily,” he added. “Whenever polls approach, the Opposition parties begin a debate on reservations... I have seen poverty. I have lived with it, and there is a lot to be done for the uplift of the downtrodden of society to whose betterment Babasaheb was committed,” the Prime Minister said.