Reaching out to Patidars once again, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today termed as "falsehood" the Congress' promise to provide quota above 50 per cent cap to the numerically strong community if voted to power in Gujarat.
Singling out senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who had proposed a quota formula ahead of polls to the Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), Modi said the Congress usually drafts in Sibal "whenever it wanted to spread falsehood". The PAAS had accepted the Congress' promise that it will provide reservation to Patels over and above the 50 per cent cap set by the Supreme Court and extended its support to the opposition party against the ruling BJP.
"There is an advocate in the Congress party called Kapil Sibal. Whenever the Congress has to spread falsehood they field him to do it," Modi said addressing a huge rally in Bhavnagar. "Before 2007 elections, this Sibal had come to Viramgam and said that Modi will be in jail in few days. "From 2007 to 2014 they were running the government, could they arrest me? You knew that Modi was growing at that time and was a most potent danger to you but you could not arrest me. They might have wished to do it, but am I not standing in front of you?" Modi asked.
Attacking the Congress and Sibal, Modi said they are once again coming to Gujarat and making false promises. "You are trying to fool people by saying that you will give this and you will give that," the prime minister said. Modi said Sibal had made statements to scare the people of Gujarat. "At that time he (Sibal) made such statements to frighten the people of Gujarat. But in 2017 they came to know that Gujarat cannot be frightened, so what are they doing this time?...They want to lure people by making false promises," Modi said.
He said the Congress had failed to do anything even though it had been in power for 50 out of 70 years since Independence. "People of Gujarat know you. If you have the strength, then present the real picture before them. You were in power for 50 years out of 70 years, but you could not give anything," he said. Modi accused the Congress of trying to "mislead" a particular community, luring people, spreading falsehood and dividing the society.
"The Congress has stooped to such a low level which will prove that their end has come in Gujarat," he said. Patidars under Hardik Patel have been demanding reservation under OBC category in government jobs and education.
In 2015, 14 members of the community were killed in police firing during quota protests, antagonising Patidars who the Congress has been trying to wean away from the saffron party.
After the Congress won over PAAS on the quota promise, the BJP had said the opposition party was "deceiving" the community by assuring them to grant reservation above the 50 per cent cap set by the apex court.
