“Shedding crocodile tears…”: JP Nadda slams opposition on OBC reservation

New Delhi [India], July 30 (ANI): Union Minister JP Nadda on Tuesday attacked opposition over OBC reservation and said that they are shedding “crocodile tears”.

Speaking in the budget discussion, Nadda said that suddenly the Congress has become OBC sympathiser as they forgot Rajiv Gandhi had labelled Mandal Commission report as “one man obstinacy.”

Speaking on the occasion of the budget discussion, Nadda while attacking the opposition on the reservations, stated, “They have become champions of OBC, which is fine, after all, it’s never better than late, but I want to say don’t take the copyright for it. I want to ask when Kaka Kalelkar’s report came, when Mandal Commission report came ,why there were no debates on it at that time? Rajiv Gandhi Ji had labelled the Mandal Commission report as “One Man Obstinacy” in Lok Sabha and dismissed it saying that Congress under Indira Gandhi had raised slogans of ‘Na Jaat Pe Na Paat Pe’. Now, why just for votes, they are becoming the champion of OBCs?”

He further questioned Congress about the number of OBCs present in their working committee and in other institutions of Congress and said, “How many OBCs are there in the working committee of Congress? How many OBCs are there on the board of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation? How many SCs, STs and OBCs were there in the National Advisory Committee of Congress? This is all “ghadiyali aanshu”. Just saying that you support backward classes isn’t enough. One needs to live with the OBC. There were most number of SC, ST and OBCs ministers in PM Modi’s cabinet of 2014, 2019 and 2024.”

JP Nadda also took a jibe at the opposition and said some people (Congress) on social media is saying that this budget is a copy-paste of Congress’ manifesto, meanwhile they are also referring to it as the industrialists’ budget and asked if they copy-pasted industrialists budget.

Taking a jibe at the opposition, Nadda said, “I have seen on social media that some people are saying this budget is a copy-paste but at the same time they are also saying that this budget is for industrialists. Sometimes, they are saying this is our (Congress) manifesto but also saying this budget is bad. What do they actually want to say? Did they copy-pasted industrialists’ budget or did they make a weak budget? What do they actually want to convey?”

JP Nadda also slammed the opposition for politicising the Agniveer and Agneepath scheme and said that they have suddenly become Agniveer Champions and talking about their pensions while they were the only ones who didn’t clear the “One Rank One Pension” scheme.

On the Agniveer Scheme, Nadda stated, “There is a lot of politics on the Agniveer. They have suddenly become the advocate of the army personnel. I want everyone not to politicise the issue. Before it, please read the recommendations of the Agniveer and study about the army of the world. The Army should have kept away from politics. This decision has been taken to the 400-500 meetings and consultations to make India’s army world-class. But today, they have become the Agniveer Champion and talking about pensions. Since 1972, there have been lots of Congress government and in the 2014 budget, Manmohan Singh just put Shagun of Rs 500 crores and said that we would look after the One Rank and One Pension but it was PM Modi who allocated Rs 1.15 lakh crore for One rank and One Pension. Hence, I want to say don’t worry for Agniveers as we will look after them.”