Cong-INDI alliance's 'hidden agenda' is to snatch rights of SC, ST, OBC and give to Muslims: JP Nadda

Launching a scathing attack against the Congress and INDIA bloc, BJP National President J. P. Nadda on Friday said the opposition's "hidden agenda" is to "snatch" the rights of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and other backward classes and give them to Muslims.

Appeasement politics of the opposition is evident in the Congress Manifesto, the BJP president said.

He said, "BJP does not want Muslims to be neglected, but they should not take undue advantage at the expense of other communities."

"The Congress says that Muslims have the first right to the country's resources, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that they belong to the poor," he added.

"In December 2006, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark on Muslims having the first right to the country's resources was not inadvertent. It was as an intentional statement as during a press conference in April 2009, while replying to a question in Mumbai, Manmohan Singh once again justified and reiterated his statement and said that minorities, especially Muslims, should be given priority, and they should have first right to the country's resources," he said.

Claiming misrepresentations in Sachar Committee's report, he said the condition of Muslims has been portrayed as even worse than Dalits in it, which means that Congress had already laid the groundwork for declaring Muslims as Scheduled Castes to give them the benefits of SC reservation," he said.

The BJP National President alleged that the Congress has stated in its manifesto that there is no place for majoritarianism in the country, which means that they have "extreme hatred" towards the SCs, STs, and OBCs because the majority population in the country belongs to these poor classes.

"The Congress has a long-standing habit of robbing their (poor classes) rights," he said, adding that "Jawaharlal Nehru always stood by Muslims".

The BJP National President targeted the Congress, citing several steps taken by the previous Congress governments at the Centre and in the incumbent government led by the grand old party in various states for "appeasement politics".