Modi woos Dalits and OBCs

Kochi: In a veiled reference to Congress, BJP leader Narendra Modi said people in power for the last 60 years have followed the divide and rule policy in the country and "conspired" to snatch the rights of Dalit and other backward communities.

Modi said the Justice Ranganath Commission was used as an instrument to sow the seeds of poison. Addressing a meeting here, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate sought to woo the Dalits and backwards saying there has been a "conspiracy" to snatch the rights given to the community by B R Ambedkar.

Modi also promised that after coming to power at the Centre, he would like to do something for his "family", pointing towards the crowd at a meeting of Dalit forum. "For the past 60 years, people have indulged in vote bank politics to divide and rule.

This has led to our division and fragmentation. They are experts in zeher ki kheti. The Ranganath Mishra Commission (on Religious and Linguistic Minorities) was set up to sow the seeds of poison," he said. On a visit to Karnataka last week, UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had launched an attack on the opposition BJP — accusing it of indulging in zeher ki kheti (sowing seeds of poison) to attain power. Modi had hit out later saying it is Congress, not BJP, sowing seeds of poison.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram hit back at Modi for his "recount" dig at him, saying the Gujarat CM has once again staged a "fake encounter" with facts on the issue and that there was never a recount in the 2009 Lok Sabha election in his constituency. He said Modi has once again staged a "fake encounter" with facts at his public meeting near Chennai when he referred to him as "recount minister". "The fact is that in the 2009 election from Sivaganga constituency, the votes were counted only once.