Rajgir/Gayaji (Bihar), Jun 6 (PTI) Rejecting outright the 50 per cent cap on caste-based reservations, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday vowed that “the barrier will be broken” in whichever part of the country his party came to power.
The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha made the promise in Bihar, the state which was a hotbed of the Mandal agitation in the 1990s, and where polls to the assembly are likely in a few months.
“I wonder where did this idea of a 50 per cent cap come from? The population of the deprived sections is close to 90 per cent,” said the former Congress president at a ‘Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan’ (symposium for protecting the Constitution) in Rajgir.
Voicing disapproval of the cap that has been placed by the Supreme Court, Gandhi said a caste census would be the first step in doing away with the barrier.
“When we conducted a caste survey in Telangana, which showed among other things that Dalits, tribals and other backward classes hardly got any government contracts, the chief minister of that state ordered that the 50 per cent limit be scrapped. He was left with no choice”, said Gandhi, evoking applause.
Telangana is governed by the Congress.
“We have broken the barrier in Telangana and Karnataka. And the barrier will be broken wherever else we form a government,” he declared.
Gandhi’s visit to Rajgir, in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s home district of Nalanda, was much talked about as the administration had denied permission for it last month, days after he had defied similar orders to interact with students in Darbhanga.
Gandhi also took a swipe at the JD(U)-BJP government in the state, alleging that it had converted Bihar into “the crime capital of the country”.
“How regrettable it is for a land which was in ancient times associated with the Buddha and the Nalanda University. The heritage is still the driving force behind modern powers like Japan, Korea and China,” said the Congress leader.
Gandhi, who had entered politics way back in 2004, admitted to have taken his time for “discovery of India”, recalling the title of the book by “my great grandfather” Jawahar Lal Nehru.
He said that his understanding of the Indian realities led him to relentlessly pursue the demand for “caste census”, and in due course, Prime Minister Narendra Modi “surrendered”.
Repeatedly uttering the word, which has been causing the BJP to fly off the handle, Gandhi claimed: “US President Donald Trump has said, 11 times, that Modi surrendered (in agreeing to halt military operations against Pakistan). This is because what Trump has said is the truth”.
Talking to reporters later, he said “I am only repeating what Trump has said 11 times. If the US President is lying, Modi should call his bluff”.
Gandhi insisted that caste census, combined with all other data that is with the Government of India, will lead to a paradigm shift in the way development is looked at in the country.
He added, waving a copy of the Constitution, “I know this new beginning will be made in Bihar. You have it in your DNA. This book is based on principles of the Buddha”.
In his speech, Gandhi also said the Modi government would not conduct a genuine caste census as it would go against the politics of the BJP-RSS.
The Congress leader also charged the government with “ruining the public sector” to benefit private players, and alleged that a big business house was planning to occupy the land on which Dharavi, the sprawling locality in Mumbai, was situated.
Later, Gandhi interacted with women in Gayaji, where he stressed the commitment of his party to ensuring better participation of women in the country’s economic growth.
The former Congress president began his day-long tour of the state by visiting Beldaur, an impoverished village in Gayaji where he met Bhagirath, the son of the late Dasharath Manjhi, also known as the ‘mountain man’.
Manjhi had carved a path, 360 feet long and 30 feet wide, through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and a chisel. After 22 years of work, he singlehandedly shortened the distance between his village and Wazirganj, where the nearest hospital is located, from 55 km to 15 km. He started constructing the road in 1960 following the death of his injured wife on the way to the hospital.
Bhagirath had shared with PTI video, prior to Gandhi’s arrival, his wish to contest the assembly polls from Bodh Gaya on a Congress ticket.
Gandhi offered prayers at the world-renowned Maha Bodhi temple at Bodh Gaya before boarding a flight to Delhi.
