"Congress Couldn't Tolerate Most Backward Person": PM Modi On Karpoori Thakur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday charged the Congress and the UPA government of doing injustice to backward communities, saying they insulted leaders from deprived sections.

While Congress leaders keep counting the number of OBCs in the government, they fail to see the biggest OBC, PM Modi said referring to himself.

Responding to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address, he charged the Congress and the previous UPA government of doing injustice to Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Dubbing the National Advisory Council (NAC) as an "extra constitutional" body, he questioned the number of OBCs in it. The government had no authority over the NAC, he said.

Referring to former Bihar chief minister late Karpoori Thakur, PM Modi said his government honoured him by announcing the Bharat Ratna for the leader who represented the backward communities.

Hitting out at the Congress, he said efforts were made in 1970 to remove him as chief minister and destabilise his government.

"The Congress could not tolerate a most backward person," PM Modi said, adding that in 1987, when the party was in power everywhere, it refused to accept Mr Thakur as leader of the opposition.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)