PM Modi, RSS strengthening wall obstructing path of SCs, STs, OBCs: Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS were strengthening the wall obstructing the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs, even as he acknowledged that the efforts of the UPA government to bring down that wall were not sufficient.

Addressing the party's 'Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan' at the Talkatora Stadium here, Gandhi, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said it is his guarantee, that "Modi has not read" the Constitution.

"If PM Modi would have read this book then what he does daily, he would not do it," Gandhi said, displaying a copy of the Constitution of India.

Gandhi said the country's whole system is pitted against Dalits, Adivasis and backward-class people.

He said a wall obstructs the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs as he accused Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -- the ideological mentor of the BJP -- of strengthening that wall by "adding cement to it".

"Slowly the wall (obstructing the path of SCs, STs, OBCs) is getting strengthened. Earlier, the UPA government gave MGNREGA, the land acquisition act, the right to food...those were ways to weaken that wall. Today, when I look back, I can say the UPA government did not weaken the wall to the extent it should have, it did not do it as strongly as it should have," Gandhi said.

"However, we used to make efforts to weaken that wall but they (the BJP) are strengthening that wall by adding concrete," the former Congress president said.

Therefore, Gandhi said, a nationwide caste census is important as through it, people would get to know, how many people from the SC, ST, and OBC sections are there in the judiciary, media, corporate India, private hospitals, and colleges.

"This X-ray is the first step, we know that Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, poor general caste people, minorities are in pain. So we have to find out where is the injury, where is the fracture, whether there is a compound fracture...we will get data by caste census," he said.

The day this data comes into the hands of a Congress government, that day the whole paradigm of development will change, Gandhi asserted.

"We have begun the work in Telangana and when the results come from there, our policies will be formed on the basis of the data of the caste census. The BJP is afraid of this as it wants only 4-5 per cent of the people to control India. They are trying to destroy the Constitution," he alleged.

There are two ways to break the control -- caste census and removing the 50 per cent reservation cap, he added.

"We have done it (caste survey) in Karnataka, Telangana. Wherever our governments come, we will take out the data on Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes, minorities, and poor general caste. We'll find out what is their share in the development and what should be their share in India's future," he said.

Gandhi asserted that no matter what the BJP does, the Congress will ensure a caste census and removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation.

"I have promised in the Lok Sabha that we will get the caste census passed in the House," he said.

The message of removing the cap of 50 per cent must be taken to every village, he told party workers.

Midway through his address, Gandhi's microphone stopped working and when it came back Gandhi said "whoever talks about tribals, Dalits and poor people in the country, his mic goes off".

"But, you can turn off the mic as much as you want, no one can stop me from speaking," he said.

Gandhi said the Constitution is not just a book, it is the thinking of India for thousands of years.

"It has the voices of great people like Gandhiji, Ambedkar ji, Lord Buddha, Phuleji, but there is no voice of Savarkar ji. It is not written anywhere in the Constitution that...violence must be used, kill or intimidate someone, government should be run by telling lies. This is because the Constitution is a book of truth and non-violence," he said.

Gandhi said every day in India, a youth from tribal, dalit, backward class dreams of becoming an engineer, doctor, lawyer or an IAS.

"But the truth is this -- the entire system of the country is stacked against the backward, Dalits and tribals. If this had not been the case, people of this class would have been found in the list of owners of 200 big companies in the country," he said.

"Tribals, Dalits and backward people are told that the country is yours, you have a share in it. But if we look at the data, this proves to be completely false. Data shows that the entire budget of the country is in the hands of 90 people. Out of these, three are Dalits, three are OBCs and one is from the tribal category.

"The people of BJP are taking money out of your pocket and putting it in the pockets of the rich and are showing you only hollow dreams," he said.

Gandhi said 90 per cent of the people of this country are facing injustice every day and the way to end this injustice is through caste census and removal of the 50 per cent limit on reservation.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi said, "Heartiest greetings to all of you on Constitution Day. The basic spirit of our Constitution is that justice and rights should be equal for all. Everyone should get an opportunity to live with self-respect."

"The Constitution is a powerful tool to protect the poorest and weakest sections of society. The stronger it is, the stronger our country will be," he said in a post in Hindi on X.