Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday asked Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad to go to Pakistan, along with his two sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, if at all he were interested in giving reservation to Muslims.
Mr. Sarma made the remarks while addressing an election rally in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur in support of the BJP candidate Raj Bhushan Nishad. It was a reference to Mr. Prasad’s recent statement that Muslims in the country should also get reservation. He made the remark asked to respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments that the INDIA bloc would take reservations away from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and give it to Muslims.
Later, he went back on his statement and said reservation cannot be given on religious grounds. However, his initial comment went viral on social media.
“By flouting the rules written by Baba Saheb Bimrao Ambedkar in the constitution, Lalu Prasad is saying that reservation should be given to Muslims. I want to tell Lalu Prasad that this is new India and Muslims cannot get the reservation in India. If he is so interested in giving reservation to Muslims, then he must go to Pakistan along with his two sons and give reservation over there,” Mr. Sarma said.
Citing the example of his own State, Mr. Sarma asserted that he ensured there was no new Madrasa built in Assam where children children became “Mullas” (Muslim clerics); instead there should be colleges and universities where they could become doctors and engineers.
Mr. Sharma pointed out that the Congress gave reservation to Muslims soon after forming the government in Karnataka, just as they had done in Andhra Pradesh earlier.
This election, BJP’s sitting MP in Muzaffarpur — Ajay Nishad — is contesting the seat on a Congress ticket.
‘Breaking the Congress-RJD nexus’
After Muzaffarpur, Mr. Sarma also addressed election rallies in Siwan and Buxar in support of Janata Dal (United) candidate Vijaylaxmi Kushwaha and BJP’s Mitilesh Tiwari, respectively.
In Siwan, he took a dig at the Opposition in Bihar, alleging that the corrupt Congress-RJD tried their best to stall the State’s development and focussed on fulfilling their own interests whenever they got an opportunity. The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) was breaking this nexus, he claimed.
In Buxar he criticised former Superintendent of Police (SP) of Assam’s Lakhimpur district Anand Mishra who is contesting as an Independent candidate.
“Whoever is contesting as an Independent candidate this election, they have taken ‘Supari’ from Congress and Lalu Prasad. Don’t vote for them and vote only for Modi ji. From where is he [Mr. Mishra] getting the money to contest elections? His mobile should be checked, how many times he talks to Tejashwi and Lalu in a day. Our only aim is to give Modi ji 400 plus seats,” Mr. Sarma said while addressing the rally in Buxar’s Arjunpur.
He stressed that the BJP had a stellar track record in Buxar and the Prime Minister’s policies would ensure that its development continued unabated in the coming days.
