Nehru was ‘anti-reservation’; Opposition does not have concrete issue to raise: Jitan Ram Manjhi

New Delhi: The country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was “anti-reservation”, Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said on Saturday, and slammed the Opposition for claiming Home Minister Amit Shah insulted B R Ambedkar through his remarks in Parliament.

The Union MSME Minister and the leader of the Hindustani Awam Morcha, a key NDA ally, made the remarks when asked about the Opposition’s attack on Shah.

“They (Opposition) do not have any (concrete) issue to raise that is why they are saying this. We have the agenda of taking the nation forward from a political as well as economic point of view,” he told..

He said that during his speech in Rajya Sabha, Shah challenged the Congress saying they take Ambedkar’s name but do not follow him.

“You insulted him whereas this government is honouring him. It has become their tendency to cast allegations as they do not have any other issue,” he told.

Earlier, addressing a press conference here, he claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru was anti-reservation.

“Nehru was not in favour of reservation. He believed it would cause division in society. His thought was also against the scheduled caste. Ambedkar fought elections twice from Maharashtra. Nehru felicitated the candidate who defeated Ambedkar,” Manjhi said.

Talking about his ministry, Manjhi said that nearly 5.6 crore Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are registered in the country on government portals.