No place for Religion-based reservation until PM Modi, BJP in power: Nadda

As long as PM Modi and BJP are in power, there will be no reservation on the basis of religion, the BJP president said

BJP president J P Nadda on Monday said there will be no reservation based on religion as long as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party are in power.

Accusing the opposition of planning to give reservation based on religion, he said, "It is clearly written in the Constitution that there will be no religion-based reservation.

"As long as PM Modi and BJP are in power, there will be no such reservation," he told reporters. He was in the city to campaign for Modi who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi for the third time.

We will not allow anyone to encroach on the reservation of our Dalit, tribal, backward and extremely backward classes. You will see what will happen to the opposition on June 4 (the vote counting day)," Nadda said while talking to reporters in Varanasi.

Addressing an intellectuals' meeting here, he said, "For a long time politics meant 'divide and rule' but now the 'politics of development' is going on."

"What was the political situation 10 years ago," Nadda asked and said, India was being counted among the corrupt countries but the biggest problem was that the common man had become indifferent towards politics and his faith had been broken.

"This becomes a threat to democracy but in the last 10 years, PM Modi created a trust among the common man about the country's development," the BJP chief said.

Earlier, the opposition spread casteism and created divisions on the basis of religion and region, he said. "Prime Minister Modi has also given a jolt to this culture. Today, a politics of development is going on and in this, 'sabka saath sabka prayaas aur sabke vishwas' (everyone's support, effort and trust) is the basis."

Nadda also offered prayers at the Kaal Bhairav temple

"Whenever I come to Varanasi I pay obeisance to Kal Bhairav temple, Sankat Mochan and Kashi Vishwanath temple. As we all know Kashi is a religious city and the city which takes forward Sanatan Dharma, I get new energy from here," he said.

Varanasi, where Prime Minister Modi is in the fray, will be going to the polls on Jun 1.

Congress has fielded its state president Ajay Rai from the seat.

"I have prayed for the well-being of the society, peace and happiness and to give strength to the development works initiated in the Narendra Modi government. Modi will become PM for the third time with '400 paar' seats," he added.

Nadda will be addressing several meetings in the city in the day.