INDIA bloc will rewrite Constitution to give reservation on basis of religion: PM Modi
Mau (UP) (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday claimed INDIA bloc parties will rewrite the Constitution to provide reservation on the basis of religion, and alleged they want to turn the country's majority community into second-class citizens.
Addressing a public meeting in Purvanchal region's Ghosi here, he also alleged the opposition grouping will end the reservation given to SC, ST, OBC and give all of it to Muslims. He accused IDNAI parties of making different castes fight among themselves.
Attacking INDIA bloc partners Samajwadi Party and Congress, Modi said they have neglected Purvanchal over the years and turned it into a "region of mafia, poverty and helplessness".
The SP and INDIA bloc are making castes fight among themselves so that they become weak, he alleged, adding this is being done "to divert people's attention from the real issues".
"Today, I have come to alert the people of Purvanchal and Ghosi about the big conspiracy of the INDI alliance," Modi said, and counted the grouping's three "big conspiracies".
"First, the people of INDI alliance will change the Constitution and write in it afresh that reservation should be given on the basis of religion in India. Second, these INDI people will end the reservation given to SC, ST, OBC. Third, they will give the entire reservation to Muslims on the basis of religion."
He said, "A third method has been created to circumvent the OBC reservation. They are declaring Muslim castes as OBC overnight. Recently, the Calcutta High Court has rejected OBC reservation for 77 Muslim castes."
The PM went on add, "Today, the SP, Congress and INDI people want to make the majority community in India second-class citizens."
He alleged those associated with the Samajwadi Party kept Purvanchal backward under a conspiracy and the people of the region will continue to punish them for this.
"The families of SP and Congress had their dynastic mindset turn Purvanchal into a region of mafia, poverty and helplessness," he said.
"The people associated with the INDI Alliance who set fire to your houses, encroached on land, who emboldened rioters, who shed tears for the mafia, such people should not be allowed to set foot in Purvanchal," said the PM.
The rally was held in support of BJP and NDA candidates from Ghosi, Salempur and Ballia Lok Sabha seats.
Referring to the SP and Congress' previous manifestos, Modi said, "In 2012 (assembly polls), the SP had clearly written in its manifesto that the reservation that Babasaheb gave to Dalits, similar reservation will be given to Muslims."
Modi further claimed the Congress declared educational establishments as minority institutions and gave reservation to Muslims there.
"Before 2014, the Congress changed the law overnight to declare schools, colleges and universities as minority institutions. They declared thousands of educational institutions as minority institutions. Earlier, the reservation SC, ST and OBC students were getting there was completely ended and Muslims got reservation."
"What can be a bigger betrayal than this of the sons and daughters of Dalits, backward tribals?"
The entire world is watching the ongoing general elections in India, he said, adding the more powerful government India elects, the more powerful prime minister it gets, and its echo will be heard in every country of the world.
NDA partner Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party has fielded Arvind Rajbhar from the Ghosi Lok Sabha seat. The BJP has fielded Neeraj Shekhar and Ravindra Kushwaha from Ballia and Salempur Lok Sabha seats, respectively.
Polling in Ghosi, Ballia and Salempur will be held on June 1 in the last phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
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Malian defence minister killed in attack that saw jihadis and rebels seize towns, military bases
Dakar (AP): Malian Minister of Defence Gen. Sadio Camara was killed in an attack as jihadi and rebel forces seized towns and military bases across the country, according to a military officer and two other sources on Sunday.
There was no immediate comment from the Malian government.
“Unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence, Gen. Sadio Camara, has been killed during the attack which targeted his house yesterday,” said a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to speak to the media.
Two other people, a civil society leader and a security member, confirmed the information.
Separatist fighters on Saturday joined Islamic militants in launching one of the biggest coordinated attacks on the Malian army in the capital and several other cities that left at least 16 wounded.
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali, while al-Qaida and Islamic State group-aligned militants have been fighting the government for over a decade.
Malian troops and Russian mercenaries withdrew from the northern city of Kidal after the attacks, the rebels said Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, a separatist group, said the Russian Africa Corps troops and the Malian military withdrew from the city after an agreement was reached for their peaceful exit.
“Kidal is declared free,” said FLA spokesperson Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan.
The Malian army did not respond to requests for comment but in an earlier statement said they were “tracking down terrorist armed groups in Kidal.”
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali. Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the rebellion before being taken by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. Its capture marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.
It was the first time the separatists worked alongside the al-Qaida-linked militant group JNIM, which also claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks on Bamako's international airport and four other cities, including Kidal, in central and northern Mali.
“This operation is being carried out in partnership with the JNIM, which is also committed to defending the people against the military regime in Bamako,” Ramadan said.
Wassim Nasr, a Sahel specialist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center security think tank, said that the coordination between the two groups, as well as the explicit call for the Russian military to leave, is new.
“The coordination, conducting attacks all over the country at the same time, real coordination on the military level but also on the political level because both claims of both groups they acknowledged that they worked together, this is a first,” said Nasr.
Mali government spokesperson Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said on state television late Saturday that 16 people were wounded, including civilians and military personnel, and that several militants were killed. He did not provide a death toll.
The governor of Bamako's district, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, announced a three-day overnight curfew, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The Economic Community of West African States has condemned the attacks and called on “all states, security forces, regional mechanisms and populations of West Africa to unite and mobilize in a coordinated effort to combat this scourge.”
The separatists called on Russia to “reconsider its support for the military junta in Bamako, whose actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population.”
Following military coups, the juntas in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso turned from Western allies to Russia for help in combating Islamic militants. But the security situation has worsened in recent times, with a record number of attacks by militants. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.
In 2024, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed an attack on Bamako's airport and a military training camp in the capital, killing scores of people.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said that while the attacks were a major blow to the credibility of Mali's Russian partners, JNIM is unlikely to take control of Bamako in the near term due to opposition from the local population.
“The attacks are a major blow to Russia as the mercenaries had no intelligence about the attacks and were unable to protect major cities. They have unnecessarily worsened the conflict by not distinguishing between civilians and combatants,” Laessing said.
