Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that Congress is the country’s most anti-Dalit party which wants to end reservations for Dalits and the backward in Haryana, just as it did it in Karnataka to appease its votebank of minorities.

Addressing an election rally in Palwal, Haryana, he, however, asserted, “I can tell you as long as BJP is there, and Modi is around, the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and OBC communities will not lose their Constitutional right to reservation.”

Mr Modi said the Congress leaders abuse him and the BJP chief minister every day only because they were born in backward-class families.

He said after coming to power in Karnataka, the Congress government in the State took away the Dalits’ and backward’ reservation benefits and transferred these to the minorities, making religion a ground for reservation.

The Congress government in the southern state even declared many schools, colleges, and universities minority institutions to end existing reservations there, Mr Modi said. As a result, Dalits and the backward lost their admission and job quotas in the institutions, he said.

The Congress has just a one-point agenda for getting votes – appeasement as much as possible, the prime minister said.

The Congress never cared for the Dalits, he claimed, and had even ensured the defeat of the father of the Constitution Babasaheb Ambedkar twice in elections, as the party felt he could ask it inconvenient questions in Parliament. The Congress did not allow Babasaheb’s portrait in the Central Hall of Parliament, the prime minister said.

He said maximum anti-Dalit violence took place during the Congress rule. Congress always had bad feelings towards the Dalits and it is clear the party has made up its mind to end existing reservation, and Haryana is going to be the test State, he said.

“Today’s Congress is in the grips of urban naxals; those who are furthering the agenda of India’s enemies, the Congress leaders get friendly with them,” Mr Modi said. This urban naxal coalition does not want India to get stronger, the party even attacks the Indian Army also, he said. The Army defeated the enemy repeatedly, but the Congress “royal family” praises the enemy, Mr Modi said.

The Congress does not hide its desire to bring Article 370 back, the prime minister noted. On the contrary, it has never said even once that it wants PoK back. The party destroyed India’s “crown”, broke up Kashmir, but does not talk of getting PoK back. This is on social media, Mr Modi said.

Only because of Pakistan “supports” Congress, he said. How can this Congress which charms Pakistan make Haryana happy, he asked.

The prime minister said, “The Congress is the country’s most dishonest party, it kept the Army waiting for One Rank One Pension (OROP) for 40 years and just allocated Rs 500 crore once. I spoke about it in Rewari, and I promised to implement it, and I did it and gave Rs 1.25 lakh crore to the Army.”

Mr Modi said against such a large entitlement, Congress tried to cheat by making only a small allocation. More than Rs 10,000 crore has been distributed to Army families in Haryana under OROP; “for Modi, respecting the Army is high on priority, and this cannot be expected from the Congress”.

Even in Himachal Pradesh, he said, Congress cheated the state. To win elections, the party promised much but even after two years, nothing materialised. The employees are not even getting their salaries on time. The party is addicted to cheating and selling baseless dreams to people in Haryana. But wherever it is in power, it has not implemented its promises, like Telangana and Karnataka.

The Congress is against Haryana’s interests, the prime minister alleged. The BJP had given 1.50 lakh jobs in the state, and that too without “kharchi, parchi” and confirmed the jobs. The Congress wants to bring the system back. There is no hope for power for the party, but it has already decided how to divide the loot. Mr Modi said the presence of huge crowds in the rally showed people will elect the BJP for the third consecutive time.