NEW DELHI: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his Bihar poll campaign by visiting the ancestral village of socialist icon and former CM Karpoori Thakur, Congress on Friday took a swipe at Modi asking is it not an acknowledged fact that Jan Sangh – from which BJP emerged – brought down Thakur’s govt in April 1979 when he introduced reservations for OBCs.Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh posted a series of questions on X to attack the PM before his visit to Karpurigram. “Is it not a fact that Karpoori Thakur ji was subjected to the vilest abuse by RSS and Jan Sangh leaders then? Is it not a fact that on April 28, 2024, he (Modi) himself called those demanding a caste census as ‘urban naxals’ and that both in Parliament (July 20, 2021) as well as in Supreme Court (Sept 21, 2021) his govt categorically rejected a caste census?” he asked.He also asked that “is it not a fact that he and his ‘trouble-engine sarkar’ in the state did nothing to provide protection to Bihar’s 65% reservation law for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCs, and EBCs under the Constitution?”
