New Delhi: Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad of demanding a review of caste-based reservation to make room for religion based reservation.
The allegations triggered a sharp reaction from Bihar CM who retorted by saying,” Modiji I'm ready to debate the issue of reservation with you anyday. Stop misleading people & your efforts to add communal colour to BiharPolls.”
A 10 year old video, when Nitish and Lalu were rivals, is doing rounds on social media sites.
The video shows Lalu calling for a quota for Muslims and Nitish challenging him to take it up.
Wearing a skullcap, Lalu, a union minister then, is seen addressing Muslims at a function in Bihar. He says “Bilkul aapko insaaf mile, aapko nyay mile, aapka haq apko mile… isme Lalu Yadav aapke saath kadama kadam… jab Lok Sabha khulta hai, usme bhi Dalit Muslim wala jo prastava gaya hai, usko zor lagake aur usko hum bolenge ki agar
Samvidhan mein sansodan laane ki zaroorat hai, provide karne ki zaroorat hai, iska provision karao (You must get justice, get your rights. Lalu will always be with you on this. When the Lok Sabha sits next, we will push all proposals for Muslim Dalits. We will ask for an amendment to the Constitution, if needed).”
The video shows Nitish challenging Lalu: “Takatwar logon se kahiye ki sirf zuban na chalaye… sirf zuban na chalaye, apni takat ka isahar jo hukumat mein hai, jinke bal par hukumat hai, use karein (Powerful people mustn't just give speeches. They should use the powers at their disposal).”
In an intervention in the Lok Sabha on August 24, 2005, Nitish called for including Dalit Muslims among the Schedule Castes.
Although Modi has accused them of scheming to take away 5% from the quota of Dalits and backwards, the video does not show the two leaders talking about carving the proposed Muslim quota out of any existing quota.
"On July 23/24, 2005, when these two leaders were arch rivals and did not even see eye to eye, they had come together to demand a review of the reservation policy on religious basis, something the Constitution makers like Babasaheb Ambedkar, Rajendra babu, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhai Patel had firmly rejected,”Modi had said in elction rally in Bihar.
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