Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said Congress hates OBCs because it cannot stomach the reality that the top leader of the country happens to be a man from Backward Classes. Division among Dalits, Adivasis, and Backward Classes suits Congress' politics, but due to their unity it is losing its support base, he said, speaking at a campaign rally here for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections and Nanded Lok Sabha by-poll. "It suits the Congress' politics if Dalits, Adivasis and Backward Classes are divided. Its game plan is to divide you into different groups and communities," he said.
"They want to divide the OBC communities into small castes and snatch the power of their unity. If it happens, Congress will snatch the reservation," he alleged.
"Congress cannot digest the fact that an OBC is the prime minister for ten years and working by taking everyone along," he said.
He alleged that leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi had tried to divide the people on caste lines and deprived them of their reservations.
There is a wave in favor of the Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, he claimed, adding that it was his dream for Viksit Bharat'.
"So, the BJP and its allies continue getting elected time and again by the people. For instance, during the recent Lok Sabha polls, Nanded did not vote for us, he said while referring to defeat of BJP's Pratap Chikhlikar by the Congress' Vasant Chavan.
In the Haryana elections, BJP created history by winning the highest number of seats, the prime minister said, adding people of Maharashtra were set to repeat the history.
''Wherever I have gone in Maharashtra in the last two months, I have this feeling that whatever couldn't be done in the Lok Sabha elections will be corrected in the assembly polls," he said.
"The only slogan on every lip today is: BJP-Mahayuti ahe, tar gati ahe. Maharashtraachi pragati ahe (Only BJP-Mahayuti will assure quick development of Maharashtra)," he added.
BJP and its allies have won 17 out of the total 48 seats in Maharashtra in the general elections.
Congress was the root cause of the problems for farmers in Marathwada, but during the rule of the BJP and its allies, several steps were taken to ease the problem of water-scarcity and drought, the PM said.
The Marathwada water grid scheme was started by the earlier BJP-led government, but the Maha Vikas Aghadi regime stopped it, he claimed, adding that the Mahayuti government revived it.
Farmers' interests are the most priority, and they have been benefitting because of several welfare schemes and financial aid. In the last two years, investment worth Rs 80,000 crore has come to Marathwada alone. Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor has given a new identity to Marathwada. The rail coach factory, logistics park, Shakti-peeth Expressway have opened new avenues of employment, Modi added.
He also listed women-centric development schemes such as PM Awas Yojana and schemes for toilets, water and electricity connections, and LPG, while saying that the Mahayuti and the Union government focused on women's empowerment.
''Modi thinks big, as never-before initiatives like making three crore women `lakhpati Didis' were taken,'' said the prime minister.
Congress governments were accused of various scams, but "now they have crossed all limits and broken their own record," he said, while also accusing its leaders of flaunting Constitution copies with blank pages during the ongoing campaign in Maharashtra.
"The red book is blank with not a word of Ambedkar's Constitution inside. It is an example of how much they hate Ambedkar," he said.
Modi also claimed that Congress wanted to enact its own Constitution instead of one drafted by Dr B R Ambedkar.
He had accused Congress of this the first time when it resorted to Emergency and was now doing the same thing by distributing blank copies of Constitution.
The prime minister further said that Congress betrayed the Constitution by not enacting it in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The Jammu and Kashmir Constitution was different, and had a separate flag. No rights for Dalits. In Kashmir, Congress supports two Constitutions, and in Maharashtra they talk of Ambedkar's Constitution," he said.
The BJP government broke the barrier of Article 370, but Congress and its allies are seeking to revive it, Modi alleged.
"Congress likes Article 370 while we like Jammu and Kashmir. Because Article 370 was scrapped, terrorism was crushed, Diwali was celebrated and national tricolor was hoisted at the Lal Chowk," the prime minister said.
Democracy has been strengthened in Kashmir and Dalits have got their rights for the first time, he said, adding Pakistan and Congress have not liked it.
Congress and its friends are running Pakistan's agenda in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. Will any patriotic person forgive Congress for this sin? Will you punish Congress in the election, he asked, apparently referring to the passage of the resolution seeking restoration of Article 370 in the J&K assembly.
Addressing a rally in a veiled swipe at former ally Uddhav Thackeray, he said Maharashtra is the land of patriotic people, and those who compromise on the nation's interest for politics and betray late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's legacy should be taught a lesson.
The by-election to the Nanded Lok Sabha seat was necessitated by the death of Congress MP Vasant Chavan. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and BJP Rajya Sabha member Ashok Chavan were also present at the rally.
