Congress refused to accept Karpoori Thakur as leader of opposition: PM Modi

New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in the Lok Sabha on Monday, referred to an incident when former Bihar Chief Minister late Karpoori Thakur, who was popularly known as Jan Nayak, was humiliated by the combined forces of the Congress and other parties in Bihar.

PM Modi also accused the Congress and the erstwhile UPA government of doing injustice to the backward communities. The Prime Minister said that while Congress leaders keep counting the number of OBCs in the government, they fail to see the biggest OBC leader. The Prime Minister also said that the previous UPA government did injustice to OBCs.

Referring to Karpoori Thakur, Modi said his government honoured him by posthumously conferring the Bharat Ratna on the leader who represented the backward communities.

The Prime Minister asked the Congress about the presence of OBC leaders or officials in the National Advisory Council (NAC), as he called the NAC an extra constitutional body. He also said that the government had no authority over the NAC.

He then accused the Congress and said that efforts were made in 1970 to remove Karpoori Thakur as the Chief Minister to destabilise his government. The Prime Minister said that the Congress could not tolerate a 'backward' person.

Sajjan Kumar Singh, a political analyst and researcher, said that as happened in 1968, when Karpoori Thakur was ousted from power by the Congress and B.P. Mandal, on August 12, 1987, he was removed from the post of leader of opposition in the Bihar Assembly by the Congress and the followers of Mandal from his own party. Karpoori Thakur died six months later on February 17, 1988.