A curious tug-of-war between some policemen and BJP workers was witnessed in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district today. The bone of contention was an effigy of Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP workers took out a march to protest against a statement by Rahul Gandhi over reservation during his recent visit to the US. They also tried to burn the effigy of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The police, however, blocked the attempt. Visuals showed policemen snatching pieces of the effigy and running away with the party workers chasing after them.
Mr Gandhi during an interaction with students of Georgetown University in the US said the Congress would think of scrapping reservations when “India is a fair place”, which he claimed was not the case right now.
“Rahul Gandhi ji is a very senior leader of the Congress. He is the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha. He has given such a statement after going to America… It is a very condemnable statement,” said BJP MP Bhola Singh.
“All the Scheduled Caste workers were present in the protest. He should apologise to the countrymen, all SC, ST and OBC people,” he added.
Rahul Gandhi’s remarks drew a flood of criticism which led to clarification from him: “Yesterday someone misrepresented my statement that I am against reservation. But let me make it clear – I am not against reservation. We will take reservations beyond the limit of 50 per cent.”
Hitting out at his statement, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said whenever he wants to say anything “rubbish”, he says that in America.
“They accuse us of ending the reservation and he (Rahul) spoke in English there (in the US) that they will end the reservation,” Mr Shah said.
“How will you do it? It is our government. So long as there is even one BJP MP in Parliament, reservation of Dalits and backward people cannot end,” he added.
With inputs from Mohammad Adnan.
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