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No change in quota policy for Dalits: PM

By The Assam Tribune - 15 Sep 2010 12:00 AM GMT

NEW DELHI, March 21 - Making it clear that there will be no change in the reservation policy for Dalits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asserted that nobody can snatch their right even as he accused his opponents of spreading �untruths� on the issue. He also compared Constitution architect BR Ambedkar to Martin Luther King who had fought for the rights of Blacks.

Delivering the Ambedkar Memorial Lecture here, Modi said, �Nothing has ever happened to the reservation for Dalits, tribals, when we are in power but still lies are being spread to mislead people... When Vajpayeeji became PM, a campaign was run saying reservation will be abolished. He was the Prime Minister for two terms and nothing of that sort happened.

�BJP has ruled in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Haryana for many years and the quota policy never suffered a scratch. Yet untruths are being spread. People, who are only interested in doing politics, fail to come out of it,� Modi said

Asserting that quota is the �right� of the Dalits and the underprivileged that nobody can snatch, the Prime Minister noted, �As I had said earlier also that even if Ambedkar appears today, he cannot snatch this very right of yours. What are we before Baba Saheb�.

Laying the foundation stone for Ambedkar National memorial, Modi targeted his political opponents accusing them of �spreading confusion and lies� on the issue and rued that such things �weaken� the social fabric of the nation.

The Prime Minister�s renewed pitch on reservation comes ahead of Assembly polls in five states � West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry beginning next month. � PTI