BJP hits out at Rahul Gandhi on welfare of SCs, STs, OBCs

NEW DELHI: Countering Rahul Gandhi's remarks on social justice while campaigning in Karnataka, BJP on Monday said it was ironic that the Congress leader was talking about a theme on which his party had been indifferent for years as no heed was paid to the long pending demands of the SC, ST and OBC communities in the state.
"Rahul Gandhi is disingenuous. He goes to Karnataka and talks about social justice when the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government did nothing to address long pending demands of SC, ST and OBCs. On the contrary, the BJP, in a series of steps since October 2022, did everything to empower them," BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya said in a series of tweets.
The BJP functionary added, "In October 2022, BJP government ensured reservation for SCs (17%, up from 15% earlier) and STs (7%, up from 3% earlier) was hiked in proportion to their population." He said in March 2023, BJP ensured sub-categorisation of the SC quota, a long pending demand that Siddaramaiah ignored when in office.
"In addition, BJP removed the blatantly unconstitutional and communal religion-based quota of 4% for Muslims and redistributed it between the agricultural communities represented by the Lingayats (their share went up from 5% to 7%)and Vokkaligas (from 4% to 6%)," Malviya said.
He further said the BJP, through an act of Parliament, included Parivara and Talwara, Betta Kuruba sub-caste in the ST list, gave sanction to convert Lambani Thandas into revenue villages, ensuring last mile infrastructure. "But DKS threatens to undo it all to appease Muslims," Malviya said as he referred to D K Shivakumar's statement that if Congress came to power, it would reverse the recent quota restructuring and restore 4% reservation to Muslims.
Describing the JD (S) as the B-team of the Congress, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Twitter that the BJP would stand strongly with these communities and would make sure it was with them for their progress. He used the hashtag "anti-Hindu Congress" to target the opposition party.
While Karnataka Congress leaders want to reverse reservation, Rahul "dropped" into Karnataka and said he wants to breach the SC limit on reservations, the BJP MP from the state tweeted.