Clear Stand on OBC Bill, Assam NRC, Amit Shah Dares Congress

Chandauli (UP): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Sunday dared the Congress to clear its stand in the Rajya Sabha on the amended OBC bill, saying it would expose whether the party was really for the backward communities.

Shah, who was speaking at a function for the renaming of Mughalsarai junction after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, also accused the Opposition of indulging in vote bank politics on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue.

The Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017, commonly known as the OBC bill, was passed in the Lok Sabha on August 2 and will now go to the Rajya Sabha for passage.

The proposed legislation seeks to grant the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) constitutional status on par with National Commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

“The Modi government has got the OBC bill passed in the Lok Sabha. This will go to the Rajya Sabha. Will (Congress president) Rahul Gandhi clear his stand before the country that whether his party will help in the passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha or not. This will make it clear whether the Congress was really for the welfare of the backwards,” Shah said.

Commenting on the NRC issue, the BJP chief said, “We have to push out each and every Bangladeshi infiltrator from the country.

“Mamata Banerjee and Congress say that NRC should not be done. I ask Rahul Baba whether NRC should be conducted in the country or not. But he does not answer. You all should tell that whether the Bangladeshi infiltrators should be pushed out (from India) or not,” he said.

Shah added, “Today I would like to ask the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress whether they want the infiltrators to stay in the country or they should be driven out. I know the answer of the people of UP. The answer is that not even a single infiltrator should be allowed to stay in India.”

Reacting to the BJP chief’s statements, the Congress alleged that the Narendra Modi government had tried to stall the NRC process by appealing to the Supreme Court that such a move could lead to law and order issues.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the Attorney General of India had used the fear of violence to delay the implementation of NRC in the Supreme Court in 2017, for which he was reprimanded by the top court.

“The Shah of lies and the Shahenshah of Jumlas tried their best to stall NRC. I will tell you how they hatched a conspiracy to stop, delay and disrupt the NRC process,” said Khera.

Former minister Yashwant Sinha also took to Twitter to question why Shah sought votes at an “official function”.