Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday doubled down on his ‘appeasement’ charge against the Congress by sharing an old video of Rahul Gandhi, in which he was purportedly supporting reservation for Muslims.

PM Modi called it the “real face” of the grand old party.

“Today I saw an 11 to 12-year-old video of Congress’s ‘shehzada’ Rahul Gandhi in which he is openly saying his party will bring reservation for Muslims. This is Congress’s real face, which the grand-old party managed to hide from the country for a long time. This has exposed the real character of Congress that the party and the ecosystem has kept hidden,” the Prime Minister said while addressing a rally in West Bengal’s Jhargram.

PM Modi also shared the video on X and wrote, “Their words and their promise is for everyone to hear. They want to deny rights to SC, ST and OBC communities, preferring UNCONSTITUTIONAL Muslim reservations instead. Modi will not let them trample over Pujya Babasaheb’s Constitution.”

In the video, Rahul appears to attack Mulayam Singh Yadav, founder of the INDIA bloc’s ally Samajwadi Party (SP), for keeping mum over Muslim quota despite having thrice served as UP CM.

“Media asked him 2-3 times about quota only to meet with complete silence. Congress, on the other hand, openly speaks about reservations. Manmohan Singh says, yes we will give reservations to Muslims, we will include them. And then Mulayam Singh gets up and says that they would have done more (if they had been in office). But you were in power thrice, why did you not do it?” Rahul is seen saying in the video.

For PM Modi, the video has proved to come in the form of fresh ammo for his counter-offensive that the Congress intends to redistribute both wealth and reservation benefits to Muslims. The Prime Minister has been claiming in his recent election rallies that Congress is attempting to snatch the reservation benefits to SC, ST and OBC communities. He said that Congress’s election manifesto promises reservation for Muslims.

During the rally in Jhargram, PM Modi said. “Media kept questioning me on this, saying that their manifesto does not mention Muslim quotas. Now I have come to you with evidence which shows that Congress and its partners are rank communalists and opposed to the faith-neutral Constitution, are casteist and nepotist,” said PM Modi.

Earlier, during an interview with PTI, the PM said he had never uttered a word against minorities and BJP had “not just today but never” acted against them. He, however, made it clear that he was not ready to accept anyone as a “special citizen”.