INDIA bloc misleading country on reservation, says Rajnath Singh
May 17, 2024
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 17 : Reiterating that there could be no reservation based on religion, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accused the opposition INDIA bloc of misleading the people of the country on the issue and held them responsible for the "crisis of credibility" in Indian politics.
The issue of reservation has taken centre stage amid the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with both the BJP and the Congress attacking each other.
"The question of finishing reservation does not stand. There is no provision for reservation on the basis of religion in our Constitution. No reservation is going to be given on the basis of a religion. The process of reservation that has been going on until now, will continue and PM Modi has also been saying the same," Singh told ANI on Friday.
"The opposition is trying to mislead the people of the country to gain votes...Congress and its allies are responsible for giving birth to a crisis of credibility in Indian politics...," he added.
He also termed the opposition allegations that the BJP is attempting to "rewrite" the Constitution as "baseless.".
"The maximum number of amendments in the Constitution has been done by them (Congress)...We all wanted that there should be no changes made in the Preamble of the Constitution, but the Congress government made a change to it in 1976, when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister..."
"These are baseless allegations. They are misleading the people of the country," he added.
On the party setting a target of 400 Lok Sabha seats, Rajnath Singh said, "Political experts across the country have been claiming that a BJP-led NDA government is going to be formed this time. We are moving forward on our target of achieving 400 seats..."
Rajnath Singh is contesting the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat as a BJP candidate against Samajwadi Party (SP)'s Ravidas Mehrotra and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Sarwar Malik for the Lucknow seat.
Voting for the Lucknow parliamentary seat will take place on May 20 during the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls.