Congress created hurdles in passage of backward classes Bill in Rajya Sabha: Rajnath Singh

BENGALURU: Blaming the Congress for creating hurdles in the passage of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said the Union government would ensure that the bill was accorded constitutional status.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had worked towards giving constitutional status to NCBC, but some Congress members in the Rajya Sabha did not allow its passage," he said, speaking at a rally taken out by the Vishwakarma community here.

"However, our government will pass the bill and no power on earth can stop us from doing so," he added.

The Lok Sabha had passed the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017 in April. The Congress, however, had blocked its passage in the Upper House of Parliament.

Singh recalled that when he was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, he had passed the Internal Reservation Bill for Backward Classes, in spite of opposition from the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress.

He claimed that in Karnataka, even though a 30-per cent reservation had been given to the backward classes, only a handful of people in the category had benefited from the government schemes.

Taking a dig at the previous Congress-led UPA government, the home minister alleged that it had given away crores of rupees to people like Vijay Mallya through bank loans, but not to the poor.

In contrast, the current government had implemented the 'Mudra Yojana' for the benefit of large numbers of poor people, he said.

On the Dokalam issue, Singh said India was no more a weak country but a strong one, which was in a position to resolve the contentious matter with its neighbour China.

"India is no more a weak nation, but a strong country. You ought to know how India resolved the Dokalam issue with China, especially when most people across the globe were anticipating an India-China conflict," he said, adding, "If India was a weak country, it could not have been in a position to resolve the Dokalam issue with China."

On Pakistan, Singh said the neighbouring country had been sending terrorists to India and the Indian soldiers had been gunning down at least five-six of them every day.

"By sending terrorists to India, Pakistan has nefarious plans to divide and make our country weak," he said.

Singh also said he had ordered the soldiers at the border not to fire bullets at Pakistan first, but give a fitting reply if they fired at them.

"I have told my soldiers deployed at the border not to fire first at Pakistan, but give a fitting reply by firing countless bullets if they fire first," he said.

The veteran BJP leader urged the people to resolve to create a "new India" by 2022, just as the people of the country had done to get rid of the British rule.

"India achieved freedom five years after the Quit India movement in 1947, after the people then resolved to get rid of the British rule. If such a resolution brought us freedom, why not we resolve today to create a new India by 2022. It is possible," he said.