Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra-Day 16: “Revolutionary Measure,” Says Rahul Gandhi On Caste Census In Bihar
Kishanganj (Bihar), January 29: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today said that without social and economic justice the country cannot progress. He also said that the proposed caste census will be a revolutionary step towards providing social justice in the country.
Addressing a largely attended public meeting at the Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan Stadium here today, Gandhi said that Bihar was the epicenter of the movement for social justice in India and the whole country looked forward to Bihar to achieve this cause.
As the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Bihar from West Bengal, it was accorded a rousing welcome by tens of thousands of Congress workers here today. Party workers were carrying the flags and chanting slogans. Gandhi, while acknowledging their love and affection, said that he was deeply touched by their loving gesture.
Maintaining that the RSS and the BJP were spreading hatred and violence, the former Congress president said, to counter that he had taken out the Bharat Jodo Yatra from “the sea to the Himalayas”. He said the Yatra had a positive impact on the country’s politics. He said it had countered the BJP’s hatred and violence with love, harmony and brotherhood.
Now, he added, he had embarked upon another Yatra from Manipur in the East to Mumbai in the West. He said, besides harmony, the Yatra aims to seek justice for the people of the country, which includes social and economic justice.
He asserted that all the claims of progress and development made by the BJP leaders sound hollow as long as there is no social and economic justice. He said, the country cannot progress as long as there is no social and economic justice.
Reiterating his party’s commitment to hold the caste census, he said, it will be a revolutionary measure towards achieving social justice in the country. He said, only after a caste census actual number of people belonging to SC, ST, OBC will be revealed and only then justice can be delivered. That is why the caste census is going to be a revolutionary step towards achieving social justice in the country.
Gandhi said that he had found that of the 90 officers in the government of India who were running the country, only 3 were OBCs. This, he said, meant only 5 percent of the officers belonged to the OBC category despite their population being about 50 percent. Such discrimination can only be addressed after caste census, he added.
Maintaining that Bihar has been an epicenter of the struggle for achieving social justice, he told the people of the state that the entire country looked forward to them achieving this goal. He said, for the progress in the country, we need social and economic justice.
