‘Appeasement Of Fundamentalists’: PM Modi Targets Congress On Waqf Amendment Act

PM Modi criticised Congress for supporting the Waqf (Amendment) Act to appease Muslim fundamentalists, questioning their lack of Muslim leadership and commitment to education.

PM Modi stated that Congress made arbitrary amendments to the Waqf law purely for political gain.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked Congress for its stand against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, saying it was only supporting the act to appease Muslim fundamentalists. He questioned why the Congress party didn’t have a Muslim party president or reserve 50% of its election tickets for Muslim candidates.

He was speaking at Hisar in Haryana after he laid the foundation stone for a new airport terminal on Tuesday. He said that the Opposition party used the Constitution as a tool to gain power.

On Ambedkar Jayanti, PM Modi remembered him and said that Dr BR Ambedkar had ruled out reservation on religious grounds. However, Congress’s appeasement politics “has harmed Muslims too”. “Congress has only made some fundamentalists happy. The rest of the society remained uneducated and poor. The biggest proof of this wrong approach is in the Waqf law," he added.

PM Modi stated that Congress made arbitrary amendments to the Waqf law purely for political gain, and these changes distorted the very foundation of the Constitution.

He said he wants to ask these “vote-bank hungry leaders” to get a party president who is Muslim and to give 50 per cent tickets in Lok Sabha election to Muslims. “If they win, they would put forward their views. But no, they won't give (Muslims) anything in the Congress. They will snatch the rights of citizens. Their intention was never to do anything good for anyone," he added.

Responding sharply to the Prime Minister, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that BR Ambedkar consistently emphasized the significance of education. He accused the government of not truly adhering to Dr Ambedkar’s vision and instead merely making big statements.

Referring to the Women's Reservation Act, which provides for 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, Mallikarjun Kharge said, “When the women's reservation bill was passed two years ago, the Congress Party had demanded that the Act be implemented immediately and at the same time, one-third reservation under it should be ensured for SC, ST and OBC women.”