Fact Check: Amit Shah DID NOT Discuss Scrapping ST/SC/OBC Reservation – Viral Clip Debunked as Doctored

Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke at a gathering in Siddipet, Telangana, on April 25 in support of M Raghunandan Rao, the BJP’s candidate for the Lok Sabha Election. He accused the Congress party of corruption and asked about the state’s reservation policy.

A video of the Home Minister’s speech started going viral on social media. In it, he was heard saying, “If BJP comes to power, it will end the unconstitutional SC, ST, and OBC reservation.”

Someone posted the video of Shah on Facebook with the words “Will cancel ST and SC reservations if BJP govt is formed again: Amit Shah. #NoMoreBJP.” You can read an old copy of this post here.

The movie that went viral was changed. When Shah spoke at his gathering in Telangana in 2023, the original video was taken. He said that if the BJP wins the state election, the Muslim reservation will end.

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We used keywords to find a movie that was posted on NDTV’s YouTube channel in 2023. “Amit Shah Vows To Get Rid of Muslim Quota in Telangana” was the subject of the video.

The report says that Shah spoke out against religiously-based reservations at a gathering in Chevella, near Hyderabad, on April 23, 2023. The reservations for Muslims in Telangana were called “unconstitutional,” and he promised to get rid of them if the BJP won power in the state.

In this video, the stage and platform are the same color as they are in the viral clip. Also, in both videos, Amit Shah was wearing a scarf that was the same color and pattern.

On April 23, 2023, the video of this rally was also posted on Amit Shah’s official YouTube account. The part that went viral can be seen at 14:30 in the movie. It’s clear that Shah didn’t mean to get rid of reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes. Instead, he talked about getting rid of the 4% reservation that the state gives to Muslims. In spite of what was said, he talked about getting rid of the reservation for Muslims and giving it to the SC, ST, and OBCs instead.

At his gathering in Siddipet, Telangana, on April 25, Shah talked about ending the reservation for Muslims. This is important to note.

Muslims in Telangana are said to get 4% of jobs and schooling reserved for them under the category of “Other Backward Classes.” This quota, on the other hand, is not part of the current reservation for OBCs. Instead, it is part of a separate group called BC-E.

So, it’s clear that an old video of Amit Shah was changed to make it look like he said he wanted to get rid of ST/SC/OBC reservations at a gathering, which he didn’t.