Despite being heard multiple times naming Muslims in his attacks on BJP's rival Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that he has never uttered a word against minorities and that his party has “not just today but never” acted against them.
PM Modi made the comments in an interview to news agency PTI on Sunday amid an outcry from the opposition that his election speeches are communally divisive and polarising.
PM Modi triggered a massive controversy after making a statement on April 21 at a rally in Rajasthan, which was termed 'divisive' by a section of people and the Congress party. Addressing the rally in Rajasthan's Banswara on Sunday, PM Modi said the Congress plans to give people's hard-earned money and valuables to "infiltrators" and "those who have more children", naming the Muslim community.
"This urban Naxal mindset, my mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your 'mangalsutra'. They can go to that level," PM Modi had said.
This wasn't the only time the Prime Minister attacked the Congress alleging it plans to distribute the country's resources among the Muslims.
Addressing a public rally in Telangana's Zahirabad on April 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Congress is "trying to fool the country in the name of the Constitution," adding that till the time he is alive he "won't let them give the reservation meant for Dalits, SCs, STs, and OBCs to the Muslims in the name of religion." READ FULL STORY
'Never Spoke Against Minorities', Says PM Modi
PM Modi said said he has never uttered a word against minorities, and the BJP has “not just today but never” acted against them. He, however, made it clear that he is not ready to accept anyone as "special citizens".
He also said the Congress has constantly violated the secular spirit of the Constitution, and that his campaign speeches are aimed at exposing the opposition parties’ bid to appease minorities with vote bank politics.
In the interview, he was asked what he has to say about the apprehension among minorities because of his statements. “I have not spoken a word against minorities. I am only talking against the vote bank politics of Congress. Congress is working against the Constitution, that’s what I have been saying," PM Modi replied.
Modi said the makers of India’s Constitution, including B R Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru, had decided there will be no reservations on the basis of religion. "Now you are turning away from that. It is my responsibility to expose them. At that time there were no members of my party in the Constituent Assembly. It was an assembly of eminent people from across the country."
