Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday called the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi ”anti-reservation”. Fadnavis said the Congress has always opposed Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and never respected the Constitution. Mr. Gandhi’s statement that his party will think of scrapping reservations in India when time comes has exposed his real face, the BJP leader said.
Mr Fadnavis alleged that the Congress had always had double standards when it came to the Constitution and reservation. “What was in their mind has come out through his lips. Their anti-reservation sentiments are out in public. It shows the Congress and Rahul Gandhi want to end reservation,” he said.
Addressing students in Georgetown, US, Rahul Gandhi said recently, “We will think of scrapping reservation when India is a fair place. At the moment, India is not a fair place.”
Reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s statement, the BJP leader alleged that the Congress leader talks about saving the Constitution in India and talks about ending reservations when he is in a foreign country.
Mr Fadnavis also alleged that the Congress party always opposed Dr. Ambedkar and ensured his defeats in Lok Sabha elections. Referring to unsuccessful attempts of Dr Ambedkar in the 1952 Lok Sabha polls from Mumbai North Central and a bypoll from Bhandara, he said, “The architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr B R Ambedkar, was defeated in the Lok Sabha polls twice because the Congress conspired against him. They never supported Ambedkar.”
Mr. Shinde said that Rahul Gandhi’s “anti-reservation” face has now come to fore and the Congress leader’s views reflect his “petty mentality”. “Whenever Rahul Gandhi goes abroad, he spews venom against the country. The country can never agree with Rahul Gandhi’s petty views. It has been Congress's habit to do politics in the name of religion and caste. Spreading confusion about the Constitution has become their fashion,” the Maharashtra CM said.
