Congress cheated OBCs for minority politics: BJP

A day after the government faced embarrassment in Parliament over a bill on the Backward Classes Commission, the BJP on Tuesday accused the Congress of "cheating the OBCs for its minority politics".

The Congress had hatched a conspiracy in the Rajya Sabha to not support the bill to confer constitutional status on the National Commission for Backward Classes, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Rajya Sabha member Bhupender Yadav said at a press conference here.

"It was a Congress conspiracy. The amendment brought in by the Congress was not to favour the OBCs or to get them justice, but to halt the amendment bill in the Lok Sabha and cheat them," the BJP leader said.

The government on Monday suffered embarrassment in the Rajya Sabha when it could not ensure the passage of a bill to give constitutional status to the commission, with the opposition succeeding in getting amended an important provision on the matter.

He said the kind of amendment Congress supported was not under the ambit of the Constitution. "This could have been questioned in any court of law," he claimed.

He accused the Congress of being an "anti-poor" party and said: "For the last 70 years, they did not allow any scheme to favour 15,000 small caste groups in the country. They don't want these groups to get their rights."

He also questioned the Congress on implementation of the Kaka Kelkar Committee recommendations as well as the Mandal Commission over the years.

"Whatever schemes we brought, the Congress opposed these -- like demonetisation, which was brought to benefit the poor. We brought in MUDRA scheme, but they opposed it. We opened accounts of the poor under the Jan Dhan Scheme, the Congress opposed it," the Rajya Sabha member said.

"We brought the bill on Aadhaar Cards and the Congress not only opposed it but also filed a petition in the Supreme Court so that money doesn't reach the poor," the BJP leader said.

"Is minority politics more important for the Congress or those deprived of their rights for long," Yadav asked.

--IANS

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