Shah Slams Congress On OBC Quota, UCC, Claims Party Wants ‘Reservation For Muslims’—Top Quotes

Parliament Winter Session 2024: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Congress party over its stance on reservation for Other backward classes, the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), and the Muslim Personal Law among other issues during the ongoing Parliament’s Monsoon session in Rajya Sabha.

Amit Shah was replying to a debate in Rajya Sabha on 75 years of the Constitution of India when he made pointed remarked directed at the grand old party.

• Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha declared that the BJP would not allow reservation based on religion, regardless of its political strength. “Congress wants to give reservation to Muslims by increasing the quota limit beyond 50 per cent. Even if the BJP has just one MP, it will not allow reservation on the basis of religion,” he affirmed.
• In his speech, Shah posed pointed questions to Congress regarding the delay in implementing the UCC, which he attributed to the introduction of Muslim Personal Law by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

  “Why hasn’t UCC come yet? It didn’t come because after the Constituent Assembly was concluded and elections were over, the country’s first PM Nehru Ji introduced Muslim Personal Law, not UCC. I want to ask the Congress party in this House that in a secular nation, should there be a common law for every religion or not? Why do they support the Muslim Personal Law? There can be no bigger political maneuver than this… They started appeasement right there by introducing the Muslim Personal Law,” Shah remarked.

  VIDEO | “Why hasn’t UCC come yet? It didn’t come because after the Constituent Assembly was concluded and elections were over, the country’s first PM Nehru Ji introduced Muslim Personal Law, not UCC. I want to ask the Congress party in this House that in a secular nation, should… pic.twitter.com/3C8YGnnf4c

  
  — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 17, 2024

  
  
  Shah continued his critique by stating, “Why wasn’t Sharia brought into criminal law? Personal law for marriage and inheritance, but why not Sharia for criminal law?”

• Highlighting the government’s progress, Shah referred to the implementation of the UCC in Uttarakhand, stating that it would eventually be implemented nationwide after constitutional analysis and public discussions. “We implemented UCC in Uttarakhand, we want to follow the democratic process. It will be analysed constitutionally. There will be discussions on a societal level and religious experts will opine about it,” he said.

  Shah asserted that the Modi government will look at all the suggestions and bring UCC in every state. ALSO READ | ‘Treated Congress, Even Constitution As Family Property’: Amit Shah Slams Nehru-Gandhi Family In RS

• Shah also criticised the Congress for its contradictions regarding OBC reservation, accusing the party of blocking the Kaka Saheb Kalelkar Commission’s report, which recommended reservation for OBCs in 1995. “Where is its report? It was forgotten because OBCs would have received reservation. Any report that comes has to be presented to the Cabinet, but instead of bringing it to Parliament, they kept it in the archives,” Shah said, adding that the report’s rejection delayed the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations.
• The senior BJP leader responded to Rahul Gandhi’s recent remarks about Veer Savarkar, stating that Savarkar had been the only person to be given a life sentence twice and asked him to consider Indira Gandhi’s praise of Savarkar on two occasions. “If you don’t listen to us, at least listen to Indira Gandhi who has praised him at two instances,” Shah remarked.

  He urged all political parties to not link “patriotism, bravery, sacrifice, and service” with religion and political ideology.

•  The Union Home Minister did not shy away from criticising Congress’s actions in the past, including the 39th Amendment and the Emergency period. He referenced the Allahabad High Court’s decision to declare Indira Gandhi’s election null and void in 1975. “The 49th Amendment in the Constitution crossed all the limits. August 10, 1975, was a black day. Indira Gandhi’s elections were declared null and void by the Allahabad High Court. The Amendment was used to subvert the High Court order and a retrospective amendment was brought to ensure that no judicial investigation is undertaken against the Prime Minister,” he added.
  

  #WATCH | Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, “…The 49th Amendment in the Constitution crossed all the limits. On August 10, 1975, was a black day. Indira Gandhi’s elections were declared null and void by the Allahabad High Court. Today, they lose and blame the EVM. The… pic.twitter.com/S0nDGiYxyh

  
  — ANI (@ANI) December 17, 2024

  
  

• Shah also appealed to the Congress to leave behind practices of “appeasement, dynastic politics, and corruption”, stating that the public will choose their leadership in the next election if they do so.

  On the Congress’s allegations against the EVMs, he said, “Today, they lose and blame the EVM. The SC has rejected the plea against the EVM 24 times. The EC kept the EVM from 10 am to 5 pm for 3 days open for anyone to prove if it could be hacked. No one came… They lost Maharashtra and won in Jharkhand on the same day. The people of Maharashtra punished them for disrespecting their previous mandate. On the same day, EVM was blamed in Maharashtra and they prepared themselves for the swearing-in ceremony in Jharkhand.”

• He also addressed Rahul Gandhi’s “Mohabbat ki dukaan” slogan raised during the 2022 Bharat Jodo Yatra, responding, “Love is not something to be sold in a shop, nor is it a tool for propaganda. Love is a feeling that resides in the heart and is meant to be shared with others.”