Rahul Gandhi Asserts: “Come What May, 50% Bar On Reservation Will Go”

Ranchi, October 19: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi today asserted that come what may, he will ensure that the 50 percent bar on the reservation is removed and the caste census is carried out in the country. He said, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opposition to the caste census, the Congress will ensure that it is done.

Addressing the ‘Samvidhan Samman Sammelan’ here today, he said, the fight to protect the constitutional values was not just seventy years old, but was going on for hundreds of years. He said, the constitution carries the message and ideology of the great spiritual thinkers and the leaders of the country. “It is a fight between the constitution and the Manusmriti”, he remarked.

The senior Congress leader maintained that the caste census along with institutional survey will be like an X-ray of the society to find out the exact number of people belonging to different castes and how much representation they have in various institutions and who controls how much wealth.
He said that there was still a massive gap in the wealth distribution in the country, pointing out that the richest one percent of people in India controlled 40 percent of the wealth of the country.

Rahul observed that the system had been manipulated and exploited by a small minority of people, while the majority “90 percent” had been left out. He pointed out, these “90 percent” people had either no or negligible representation in various institutions in the country like the media, the corporate world, the bureaucracy etc. He quoted the example of Bollywood, said that the Daltis, the Backwards or the Adivasis had almost nil representation even in Bollywood.

Rahul Gandhi alleged that while the Adivasis were given symbolic respect, they were not given any power. He quoted the example of the President Ms Droupadi Murmu, who is an Adivasi and was not allowed to go for the inauguration of the new parliament building, just because she belonged to the Adivasi community. He said, similarly, she was not allowed to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Ram Mandir. “If this is not an attack on the constitution, what else is?” he asked.

The Leader of the Opposition expressed confidence that despite the BJP having control over money and institutions like the Election Commission, the ED, the CBI and Income Tax, the Congress fought the battle on the strength of truth. He pointed out, the Congress, the principal opposition party’s bank accounts, were sealed ahead of elections and it was made to fight elections without any money.

But, he added, as the Congress strongly called for saving and protecting the constitution on the strength of truth, it made the Prime Minister Narendra Modi bow before the constitution after the elections. This, he added, was because the people of the country gave him the message in General Elections that they will not let him harm the constitution at any cost.