Union Home Minister Amit Shah has lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for allegedly threatening India's national security and "planning to remove reservations". Shah also accused Rahul Gandhi of standing with divisive forces and cultivating a habit of "making anti-national statements".
Amit Shah's reaction comes in the wake of Rahul Gandhi meeting Somalian-American MP Ilhan Omar, who is known to hold an "anti-India" stance. Soon after Rahul Gandhi met Omar, pictures of the two went viral along with Omar's statements against India. Rahul Gandhi also faced heat from the BJP over his comments that India was dealing with unemployment and slow manufacturing.
During an interaction with students at the University of Texas in Dallas, Gandhi emphasised the need to focus on manufacturing in India. He said that India, America, and other countries in the West are facing unemployment problems, while this is not the case in China because it dominates global production.
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Amit Shah on Wednesday said: "Standing with forces that conspire to divide the country and making anti-national statements have become a habit for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress. Whether it is supporting the JKNC's anti-national and anti-reservation agenda in J&K or making anti-India statements on foreign platforms, Rahul Gandhi has always threatened the nation's security and hurt sentiments."
Omar Abdullah's Stance On Reservation
Amit Shah was referring to the remarks of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on blanket reservation based on religion or caste. "There is a case for making a quota for the economically disadvantaged within the Muslim community. I’m against a blanket quota, but economically poor Muslims definitely need to be uplifted," he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times in May.
The Congress recently reforged its alliance with the NC for the three-phase Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections beginning this month.
On Tuesday, BSP supremo Mayawati also accused Rahul Gandhi and the Congress of conspiring to abolish reservations.
Amit Shah Accuses Rahul Gandhi Of Divisive Politics
Accusing Rahul Gandhi of employing divisive politics, Amit Shah said that the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha had brought the "Congress's anti-reservation face to the forefront". "Rahul Gandhi's statement lays bare the Congress's politics of causing rifts on the lines of regionalism, religion, and linguistic differences. By speaking about abolishing reservations in the country, Rahul Gandhi has once again brought the Congress's anti-reservation face to the forefront."
"I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that as long as the BJP is there, neither can anyone abolish reservations nor can anyone mess with the nation's security," Shah added.