Amit Shah challenges Rahul Gandhi, Congress on OBC bill, NRC issue

BJP chief Amit Shah today dared the Congress to clear its stand on the amended OBC bill when it is taken up in the Rajya Sabha, saying it will expose whether the party was really for the backward communities.

He also charged the opposition with playing vote bank politics on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue.

The Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017, commonly known as OBC bill, was passed in the Lok Sabha on August 2 and will now go to the Rajya Sabha for passage.

The proposed legislation seeks to grant the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) constitutional status on a par with National Commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

"Modi government has got the OBC bill passed in the Lok Sabha. This will go to the Rajya Sabha. Will (Congress president) Rahul Gandhi clear his stand before the country that whether his party will help in the passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha or not. This will make it clear whether the Congress was really for the welfare of the backward," Shah said.

He was here to attend a function on renaming of Mughalsarai junction after RSS stalwart Pt Deendayal Upadhyay.

On the NRC issue, the BJP chief said, "We have to push out each and every Bangladeshi infiltrator from the country."

"Mamata Banerjee and Congress say that NRC should not be done. I ask Rahul Baba whether NRC should be conducted in the country or not. But, he does not answer. You all should tell that whether the Bangladeshi infiltrators should be pushed out (from India) or not."

"Today I would like to ask the SP, the BSP and the Congress whether they want the infiltrators to stay in the country or they should be driven out. I know the answer of the people of UP. The answer is that not even a single infiltrator should be allowed to stay in India," he said.

Shah attacked the opposition parties on their efforts to forge unity and said, "Today the entire opposition is hell bent upon spreading the rumour about impact on the poll equation in UP if the SP and the BSP come together." 

"Even if Bua (BSP chief Mayawati), bhatija (SP chief Akhilesh Yadav) and Rahul join hands, our tally of seats (in Lok Sabha from UP) will be 74 instead of 73 now and will not be 72," he said.

He exuded confidence that the BJP and its allies will perform better than in 2014 when the saffron party bagged 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state and two went to ally Apna Dal, taking the NDA tally to 73.

"I throw a challenge to them that in the planes of Ganga-Yamuna, apart from the BJP's victory, nothing else will happen," he said.

The BJP chief said that today is an important day for the party workers, as in the place where Pandit Upadhyay was found dead under mysterious circumstances, the same Mughalsarai station has now been associated with Upadhyay's name.

Shah, on the occasion also said, "Until development takes place in Uttar Pradesh, development of India will remain incomplete. Until and unless the Poorvanchal (eastern) region of the state develops, the country will not develop. Today, I am happy to inform you that the Modi government has spent more on Poorvanchal than that done by previous governments in the past 70 years.

"As the BJP party chief I want to assure you that when we come back to you after five years to seek votes, UP would had become the number one state in the country," he said.

Railway minister Piyush Goyal said, "Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay learnt different principles in his early life. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a tea seller started his life at a railway station and trains." 

Minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha said: "In the last four years, a number of works have been done in UP. Earlier the big projects of the Centre were able to reach only Amethi and Rae Bareli. The work done by the Railways in the last four years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not done in last 40 years." 

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said Deendayal Upadhyay is the source of inspiration for all the public-welfare works being done by the UP government.

Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey, who is also the MP from Chandauli, also addressed the gathering.