On a day when polling for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections is underway, former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad courted a fresh controversy on Tuesday when he batted for Muslim reservations saying it “should be done now”.

By doing so, the RJD leader gave an opportunity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to double down on his claim that the Opposition wants to snatch away the reservations of Dalits and OBCs and give them to Muslims. Predictably, Modi lapped up the opportunity without losing time. While addressing a public rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar, he took a dig at the Lalu Prasad saying a “fodder scam accused” leader, who is out on bail, is advocating reservations for Muslims.

Speaking to reporters at the legislative council in Patna, Lalu Prasad said, ”The votes are on our side… They are saying that there will be a ‘Jungle Raj’ because they are scared, they are trying to instigate… They want to finish the Constitution and democracy… ”

On the allegation of snatching the reservations of the OBCs and giving them away to the Muslims, he said, ”….Are toh reservation toh milna chahiye Musalmano ko, pura… (Muslims should get reservations in full).”

Reacting to his statement, Prime Minister Modi said, “Congress is silent but today, one of its allies confirmed the intentions of INDI Alliance. Their leader, who is in jail in connection with the fodder scam and has been punished by the court…He has just come out on bail…He said that Muslims should get reservations and not just reservations, he says that Muslims should get complete reservations. What does this mean? These people want to snatch away all the reservations that SC, ST, and OBC communities have and give complete reservations to Muslims….”

“They can’t see anything beyond appeasement now, he said at the rally, adding “If they come to themselves, they will also take your breath right away.”.

The prime minister has been accusing the Opposition Congress of indulging in appeasement politics ever since the party released its election manifesto.

Describing the Congress manifesto as a reflection of the Muslim League’s agenda, Modi alleged that the grand old party has plans to give Muslims a chunk of the reservations granted to the SC, ST, and OBC communities. However, the Congress has rejected the prime minister’s claim, saying he is reading from his 2019 script.

Rajya Sabha MP and BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters at the party headquarters, “The apprehensions expressed by BJP and PM Modi are now proving to be completely true. The genie of Muslim reservation has come out of the lamp of the INDI alliance and is visible in the sky from the South to the plains of Ganga. The thing worth noticing in the statement given by Lalu Prasad is that the most serious word he was asked about the Muslim community, he said yes Muslims should get reservation ‘poora ka poora’. It became clear that they want to give reservation to the Muslim community by snatching the share of SC, ST and OBC…”

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath says, “…This is what the prime minister is saying that the parties associated with INDI Alliance, be it Congress, RJD, Samajwadi Party, they will try to disturb the reservations of OBCs, SCs, and STs and their manifesto mentions that.”

He pointed out that when the Congress-led UPA government was in power both the RJD and the Samajwadi Party were its constituents. At that time, they had formed the Ranganath Mishra Committee and Sachar Committee. The Ranganath Mishra Committee recommended 6 per cent reservations for Muslims, which was strongly opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at that time.

“BR Ambedkar was against reservations on the basis of religion. People should answer them through their votes and reject them,” he exhorted the voters.

BJP ally JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said Lalu Prasad’s statement favouring reservations to Muslims violates the basic spirit of Mandal Commission; social and educational backwardness, not religion, only criteria for reservations: