Concerned about students of Jamia: Irfan Pathan
New Delhi, Dec 16: Veteran India pacer Irfan Pathan has expressed concern about the students of the Jamia Millia Islamia after several of them were injured during violent protests against the amended Citizenship Act.
The 35-year-old pacer, who has played 29 Tests and 120 ODIs for India, posted a tweet to offer support to the students after police entered the Jamia university campus on Sunday.
"Political blame game will go on forever but I and our country is concerned about the students of #JamiaMilia #JamiaProtest," Pathan tweeted.
Protestors torched four public buses and two police vehicles in New Friends' Colony near the university during a demonstration against the act, leaving nearly 60 people including students, cops and fire-fighters injured.
A Jamia students' body claimed they had nothing to do with the arson and "certain elements" had joined the protest and "disrupted" it. They also accused the police of high-handedness.
The university had turned into a battlefield on Sunday as police entered the campus following protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which led to violence and arson.
Several states in the northeast and West Bengal have been rocked by violent protests over the Act, which seeks to provide citizenship to non-muslim religious minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
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Congress gave religion-based quota through backdoor in Karnataka, wants to do it everywhere: PM Modi
Sagar (MP), Apr 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused Congress of reducing the quota for the OBCs in Karnataka by putting Muslim castes in the same category, and claimed that it plans to replicate this across the country.
Speaking at an election rally in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, he dubbed the opposition party as the "biggest enemy of the OBCs", and said the Bharatiya Janata Party needed to win more than 400 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections to save the quota granted to the Other Backward Class, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
In the past, Congress provided reservation on the basis of religion which India's Constitution does not allow, and also promised the same in its 2009 and 2014 manifestos, Modi said.
"Once again Congress has given reservation based on religion through backdoor in Karnataka by putting all Muslim castes along with the OBCs. By doing so, it has snatched a big chunk of reservations from the OBC community. Congress indulged in this dangerous game which will destroy your generations. It is the biggest enemy of the OBCs,” he said.
In 2004, Congress had given religion-based reservation and thus stabbed Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, in the back, Modi said.
The opposition party played a trick in an "illegal manner" when it added Muslim castes in the OBC category, and in the process took away the rights of the OBCs, he alleged.
Further, Congress wants to implement this formula in the entire country, the prime minister alleged.
"The Constitution clearly says that no one will be given reservation on the basis of religion. Babasaheb Ambedkar himself was against reservation on the basis of religion. But Congress had made a dangerous resolution of (providing) reservation based on religion years ago. Various tactics are being adopted to fulfill this resolution. They are playing their game by deceiving the country's people," Modi said at the rally.
He also accused the opposition party of planning to curtail 15 percent quota of SCs, STs and OBCs, and provide it on the basis of religion.
The last time the Congress regime in Karnataka provided reservations based on religion, the subsequent BJP government scrapped it, he said.
"Elections will come and go, but this dangerous game of snatching reservations of OBCs, Dalits and tribals should be ended,” Modi added.
The prime minister also claimed that the opposition party hates the Constitution as well as the "identity of India," and that was why it was doing everything that "weakens the country and its credibility."
Some people were asking why he had given the slogan "Abki Baar, 400 Paar", the prime minister said.
"To save the reservation of SC, ST, OBCs forever, more than 400 seats are needed,” he said.
Congress' "hidden agenda" was now out, the PM said, claiming that it had said it would impose inheritance tax on coming to power.
"The wealth you have saved by working hard and enduring hardship will be looted after the formation of the Congress government,” he said, adding that it also showed how disconnected the party was from the country's social values and sentiments of Indian society.
Congress had no idea of Indian family values, Modi said, adding that people save assets for their children, grandchildren and next generations by spending their own lives in hardship, but the opposition party wants to plunder these assets earned over generations.
"Jindagi ke saath bhi loot and Jindagi ke baad bhi loot (looting people while they are alive and looting after they are dead)," is the Congress' mantra, and it wants to give these assets to its "vote bank," the prime minister said.
He also took swipes at Congress for not attending the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya and accused it of calling Lord Ram a fictional character.
The BJP has fielded Lata Wankhede from the Sagar Lok Sabha seat while the Congress' nominee is Guddu Raja Bundela. Polling will be held in the constituency in the third phase on May 7.
