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'Giving Government Lands To Waqf Boards': PM Modi Slams 'Khan Market Gang' After Calcutta HC Scraps OBC Certificates

Kuldeep NegiMay 23, 2024, 08:53 AM | Updated 08:53 AM IST
PM Modi

PM Modi


The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday (22 May) canceled Other Backward Classes (OBC) certificates issued in West Bengal since 2010 under the Trinamool Congress government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the high court’s verdict a ‘slap to the Khan Market gang’.

Khan Market is a posh shopping center in South Delhi. The phrase "Khan Market gang" is used by the BJP and PM Modi to mock their political adversaries.

Addressing a poll rally in Delhi's Dwaraka, PM Modi said, "Today, Calcutta High Court has given a huge slap to the INDI alliance. The court in its verdict canceled all the OBC certificates issued after 2010. This was done because the West Bengal government inexplicably gave OBC certificates to Muslims, only for the Muslim vote bank.”

He further criticised vote bank politics and politics of appeasement, stating it was “crossing every limit.”

PM Modi continued, “Aaj court ne tamacha maara hai, yeh Khan Market gang paap ke bhagidar hai (Today, the court has given a huge slap, this Khan Market gang is responsible for the sin).”

He added, “They say that Muslims have the first right on the country's resources. These people are continuously giving government lands to the Waqf Board and asking for votes in return. These people want to reserve 15 per cent of the country's budget for minorities. They also want to give loans from banks and government tenders based on religion.”

PM Modi accused the Opposition of opposing CAA and laws against triple talaq to appease their vote bank.

“That is why they have come together to form INDI alliance,” PM Modi said.

He added, “The Khan Market gang has only one way now: Every time Modi uses ‘Muslim’, label it as communal politics. I am exposing the communal politics of the Opposition and then their entire ecosystem shouts ‘Modi is doing Hindu-Muslim politics’. “

The high court bench declared the OBC list prepared after 2010 as “illegal” and scrapped all certificates issued since then. The court struck down sections of the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012, including section 2H, 5, 6, and Section 16 and Schedule I and III, as 'unconstitutional'.

The court, however, clarified that the order would not affect the services of individuals from the ejected classes who are already in service, have benefited from reservation, or have succeeded in any selection process of the state.

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