Congress has a history of strangulating the Constitution: Yogi Adityanath

Gorakhpur (UP): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday that the people of the nation would not accept the Congress, SP, and INDIA bloc's agenda to grant reservation to a specific religious group, thereby jeopardising the constitutional framework and encroaching upon the reservation meant for backward and scheduled castes.

Talking to reporters at the Gorakhnath temple complex, the chief minister said, "The Bharatiya Janata Party staunchly opposes any form of reservation based on religion because the common people have suffered the brunt of Partition of India on the basis of religion. The BJP firmly supports reservation benefits for SC-ST and OBC communities."

He remarked that the history of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, and their associates within the INDIA bloc is well-known to all.

"The Congress has a track record of undermining Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar's Constitution. Since its adoption in 1950, Congress persistently attempted to manipulate the Constitution for its own ends, often disregarding fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression. Governance is meant for the people, and public sentiments ought to be honoured, a principle the Congress failed to grasp."

He highlighted that the populace hasn't forgotten the Emergency period which was like 'strangulating the Constitution of the country'.

“Along with this, the people of the country also remember the sins that Congress committed during the UPA government. Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party were allies of Congress in the UPA government at that time,” he added.

Yogi Adityanath asserted that the Congress had made efforts to deprive the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes of their rights through initiatives like the Justice Ranganath Mishra Committee and Sachar Committee, engaging in actions contrary to the Constitution across the nation. Subsequently, Congress maliciously attempted to introduce reservations based on religion.

He further said, “The ulterior motive of the then Congress government was to cut 6 per cent of the 27 per cent reservation meant for OBC and give it to a community as part of its appeasement politics. Similarly, through the Sachar Committee, efforts were made to include certain Muslim castes by encroaching upon the reservations allocated for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.”

The Chief Minister emphasised that the strong opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party thwarted the intentions of the then Congress government. Otherwise, within the same UPA government, Congress would have undermined OBC and SC-ST reservations by introducing religion-based reservations nationwide.