Rajasthan’s BJP government to review reservations given to 14 Muslims castes under OBC category
Jaipur (PTI): Amid a tug of war over reservations between the BJP and opposition parties in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, a Rajasthan minister on Saturday said the classification of certain Muslim groups under the OBC category would be reviewed in the state.
Social justice and empowerment minister of Rajasthan Avinash Gehlot said that previous Congress governments gave OBC reservation to Muslim castes from 1997 to 2013 as part of appeasement politics and now it will be reviewed.
"Baba Saheb Ambedkar had written in the Constitution that reservation benefits cannot be given to any caste or class on the basis of religion, but from 1997 to 2013, Congress included Muslim castes in the OBC category," Gehlot was qiuoted as saying in a video.
"The 14 castes of Muslims have been included in the OBC category. We have complaints and the department is getting the verification done," he said, adding that a high-level committee will be formed on the matter.
When contacted, the minister said that giving reservation "on the basis of religion is unconstitutional" and should be reviewed.
Reacting to it, PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra said that the BJP was doing 'Hindu-Muslim' politics out of fear of its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections instead of giving an account of the work done by the central government.
"Regardless of your Hindu-Muslim politics, done out of fear of defeat, INDIA alliance will form the government. The people are demanding an account of the last 10 years. It is demanding answers on inflation, unemployment and bad governance," he said.
AIMIM's state general secretary Kashif Zuberi said it will protest against the review. He said that the BJP should review its election manifesto instead of taking decisions to target one religion.
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At least 4 people killed in one of largest Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia
Kyiv, May (AP): At least four people, including three near Moscow, died in one of the largest Ukrainian overnight attacks against Russia since the start of the war, according to Russian local authorities.
A woman was killed after a drone hit her home in Khimki, a city just northwest of Moscow, and two men died in the village of Pogorelki 10 km north of the capital, according to local Gov. Andrei Vorobyev.
In social media updates, Vorobyev said Ukrainian drones had also damaged unspecified “infrastructure” and several high-rises.
In Moscow itself, at least 12 people were wounded in the nighttime strike, mostly near the entrance to the city's oil refinery, mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported. Sobyanin reported the “technology” of the refinery has not been damaged.
Russian defences shot down 81 drones headed for Moscow overnight, state agency Tass reported, citing Sobyanin, marking one of the largest attacks on the Russian capital since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
One man was also killed as a drone struck a lorry in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, according to local authorities.
Russian air defences destroyed 556 drones over Russia overnight, the country's defence ministry said Sunday morning. Shortly after midday local time, it reported that over 1,000 had been shot down or jammed in the previous 24 hours.
Russia's largest airport — Moscow's Sheremetyevo — said drone debris had fallen on its premises without causing damage.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 287 drones overnight on Sunday, 279 of which were shot down or jammed, the Ukrainian air force reported.
According to Ukraine's estate emergency service, the strikes injured 8 people in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region: three in the regional capital of Dnipro, four in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, and one in the district of Synelkove.
Residential buildings were damaged in all three locations, the service said.
