'Maratha Vs OBC Conflict In Maharashtra Was Started By The BJP,' Claims State Congress President Nana Patole

Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has said that the ongoing Maratha versus OBC conflict in the state was started by the BJP. He alleged that the BJP fuelled the fire around the Maratha reservation issue and it won’t resolve it. Patole made these remarks during a speech at a conclave hosted by a television channel on Friday.

Jinnah Fan Club

Criticising Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s for labelling Congress as an “Aurangzeb fan club”, Patole called the BJP “Jinnah fan club”. “Just as Jinnah divided the nation, the BJP is dividing Hindus and Muslims for votes,” Patole said. For its part, the BJP, on Friday, reacted to Patole’s remarks defending Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s statement during an interaction with the Indian diaspora in Washington, where he had stated that the Congress party will “think of ending reservation when India is a fair place”, to claim that these assertions expose the “corrosive” and “casteist” mentality of the grand old party.

Patole had in a recent television show defended Gandhi’s statement which he made in September during his visit to the United States, by asking “what is wrong with Rahul ji’s statement?” Gandhi’s remarks had come as a major surprise since the Congress had gone full hog during the recent Lok Sabha elections on the claims that the BJP and its ideological mentor, the RSS, wanted to remove caste-based reservation. Patole’s statement has given the BJP and its Mahayuti allies another opportunity to have a go at the Congress.

BJP National Spokesperson CR Kesavan Reacts To Nana Patole's Remarks

BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan reacted to Patole’s remarks, saying, “Nana Patole’s ringing endorsement of Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on reservation very clearly unmasks the extreme anti Ambedkar mindset of the Congress and also exposes the corrosive, casteist mentality of the Congress party.”

He insisted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would, however, “ensure that the safeguards given to our SC/ST brothers and sisters are protected for generations to come”.

The party’s national information and technology department head Amit Malviya also said, “Provisions for reservation were provided to redress decades of social discrimination. The Congress has decided to remove reservations for SCs, STs, and OBCs. All their recent moves and statements are aimed at building ground for it.”