After the Supreme Court verdict on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the judgment was a "tight slap" to the Congress-led opposition for creating distrust against EVMs.
While addressing a rally in Bihar's Araria, Modi said that RJD and Congress never cared about the Constitution of India. He also criticised the Opposition for trying to "steal" reservations meant for OBCs, SCs and STs "for the sake of their favourite vote bank of Muslims".
"When the Congress, the RJD and other INDI alliance parties were in power, the poor, backwards and Dalits used to be deprived of their votes through booth capture. With the introduction of EVMs, they are no longer able to play their old game. Hence, they committed the sin of creating distrust against EVMs," alleged the Prime Minister in Araria.
The SC on Friday dismissed all pleas demanding to vote using paper ballots, 100 per cent cross-verification of the vote count in the EVMs with the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and physical deposit of VVPAT slips.
While pronouncing the verdict, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta observed that blindly distrusting a system can lead to unwarranted suspicions.
Meanwhile, PM Modi accused the Congress of having "stolen" reservations meant for the OBCs and transferring the benefits to Muslims in Karnataka.
"Being an OBC myself, I know the hardships faced by the backward classes", said Modi, adding "In future, they may loot reservations for SCs and STs as well".
Claiming that the previous government headed by Manmohan Singh had given its "assent" for reservations to Muslims, the prime minister slammed the Congress and its "ecosystem" for "trying to browbeat me, without success".
"I will not allow reservations meant for SCs, STs and OBCs to be diverted for vote bank politics. This is Modi's guarantee", he said.
Modi reiterated that the Congress manifesto 'Nyay Patra' bore "the imprint of Muslim League". "I say the poor have the first claim on the country's resources. Congress, RJD and their allies say the first claim is of their vote bank. They want to steal your belongings, even mangalsutras of women", he alleged.
On Thursday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had written a letter to PM Modi and sought time to explain the 'Nyay Patra' in person. Kharge in the letter claimed that Modi had been "misinformed" by his advisors regarding the content of the manifesto as he is speaking about those things that are not even written in it.
Hitting out at RJD, Modi said that they want to enjoy looting the country. "The RJD is quiet on the Congress' plans to track every citizen's wealth and snatch away 50 per cent of it if the INDI alliance came to power. Both allies want to enjoy the loot", charged the PM.
(With PTI inputs)