MADURAI (TN), Jan 27:
Virtually sounding the Lok
Sabha poll bugle in Tamil
Nadu, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi Sunday hit
out at critics of the 10 per
cent quota for the economically weaker sections.
A few in the state were creating an “atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust” for ‘selfish’
interests, he said addressing a
well-attended BJP rally here.
He took a swipe at the proposed grand alliance of opposition parties, saying they had
set aside their ‘differences’
to “remove this watchman”
in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections.
The government was taking effective steps to rid the country of corruption and nepotism, he said, while assuring firm action against economic offenders, even if put up abroad. The Centre’s 10 per cent quota for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the general category in education and government jobs will not impact the existing reservation benefits for Dalits, Tribals and OBCs, Modi said. The EWS quota had been earmarked with the ‘spirit’ of providing opportunities to all in education and employment. “This decision has been taken in such a way that it doesn’t impact Dalits, tribals and OBCs who are already availing the benefits of reservation,” he added.
“It is unfortunate that an
atmosphere of suspicion and
mistrust is being created by
a few people in Tamil Nadu
to serve their own selfish interest. I urge all of you to be
vigilant and against such negativity,” he said.
Opposition DMK and
some other parties in the
state have opposed the 10 per
cent quota, saying social backwardness alone should be the
criterion for reservation.
The DMK has moved the
Madras High Court challenging the Constitution
amendment providing for
the EWS quota.
Modi further said any political thought which opposes the poor cannot benefit
anyone, adding opportunities
for all cannot be guaranteed
as long as there were artificial concepts of high and low
or ours and theirs.
Further, the union government was taking effective steps
to rid the country of corruption and nepotism, he said.
“Any person who has cheated or looted the country shall
be brought to justice. This is
regardless of whether he is
in India or abroad,” he said, in
an apparent reference to economic offenders Vijay Mallya,
Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, all of whom are staying
abroad.
Modi said the Centre’s effort against corruption has created a “stir from Chennai to
Delhi,” and that all those who
were “used to making bills in
government contracts, “different bills, and welfare schemes,
are now facing the music.”
That was why they were all
coming together, he said in an
apparent reference to a proposed grand alliance of major
opposition parties, including the
Congress and DMK. – PTI
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