‘I didn’t say a word against the minority’: PM Modi says ‘not ready to consider anyone as a special citizen’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has “never been against the minority”. In an exclusive interview with news agency PTI, the Prime Minister denied speaking against minorities when asked about his recent speeches during the election campaign. Instead, he argued that he was “speaking against the vote bank politics of Congress.”

“I have not said a word against minorities. I am speaking against the vote bank politics of Congress. I am speaking about Congress working against the Constitution,” PM Modi said.

He added that the makers of the Indian Constitution, including Babasaheb Ambedkar and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, had decided that no reservation would be made on the basis of religion. “Now that you are turning away from that, it is my responsibility to denounce them,” the prime minister said in the interview.

He further assured that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “has never been against the minority”.

“The BJP has never been against the minority. It is not just today. But the party has never been against the minority,” PM Modi said.

He also compared the politics of the opposition and the BJP and said, “They are following the path of appeasement and I am following the path of satisfaction. Their policy is appeasement, while my idea is Sabka Sath Sabka Vikaas.

“We are not ready to consider anyone as a special citizen; we are ready to consider everyone as equal,” PM Modi told PTI.

Prime Minister Modi drew criticism from the opposition after he claimed at an election rally that the Congress was planning to give hard-earned money and valuables to “infiltrators” and “those above children “.

“Earlier, when their (Congress) government was in power, they had declared that Muslims have the first right to the property of the country. This means to whom will this property be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have the most children”, declared the Prime Minister. Modi had said while addressing a rally in Banswara, Rajasthan on April 21.