Bhagwat's quota comments agitated OBCs: BJP MP

New Delhi, Nov 9: In further rumblings within BJP over its big loss in Bihar, party MP Hukumdev Narayan Yadav today said RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's quota comments "agitated" backward castes who rallied behind the grand alliance and asserting that many who voted for the Modi government are not RSS supporters.

A five-time Lok Sabha MP from Bihar with the socialist background, Yadav said Bhagwat's suggestion for a review of reservation was "ill-timed" and "agitated" backward castes and Dalits. "The Party should analyze why backward castes voted solidly for the grand alliance. What Bhagwatji said agitated voters from backward castes and Dalits," he told PTI.

Asked if the beef controversy also hurt BJP's prospects, Yadav said only a thorough analysis by the top brass could shed light on it. "Not everybody who voted for the Modi government agrees with the views of RSS or is its supporter.

The party and government at the Centre should be sensitive to their sentiments too," he said. Yadav, who was a minister in the previous NDA government, said Bhagwat's intentions may have been right and he merely wanted an academic debate over the issue, but the timing of his comments was wrong.

"It was ill-timed." He, however, said party chief Amit Shah's controversial comments that firecrackers will go off in Pakistan if BJP lost the election has been proved right as he noted that Pakistani media was taking digs at the party after the loss.

Hinting that polarizing Hindus may not work all the time, he said Hindus put castes above religion "unlike Muslims who put religion before other issues".

PTI