Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said removing the existing 50 per cent cap on reservation is necessary to protect the Constitution, and asserted that the INDIA bloc will ensure the passage of laws to this effect in Parliament.
The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha also attacked the BJP-led government, saying there was no use of bowing before Shivaji Maharaj after “scaring people, destroying the Constitution and institutions in the country”.
Holding a copy of the Constitution, Gandhi called it a symbol of Shivaji's ideas.
This is Gandhi’s second visit to western Maharashtra in a month. He visited Sangli last month to unveil the statue of late Congress leader Patangrao Kadam. His party wrested the Kolhapur and Sangli Lok Sabha seats from Shiv Sena and BJP, respectively after losing them in 2014 and 2019.
Speaking at the ‘Samvidhan Samman Sammelan’ here, Gandhi said the Congress and the INDIA bloc, a coalition of over two dozen opposition parties, will also bring out laws to enable a caste-based census.
“We will ensure in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha that the 50 per cent cap on reservation is removed and no power can stop it. Removing this 50 per cent limit is necessary to protect the Constitution,” he said.
Gandhi said when his party talks of caste census, it wants to add two more aspects to it: to identify the population of each community and how much control they have over India’s financial system. The caste-based census will help gather data on the population of various communities.
He said the doors of opportunities are being closed on 90 per cent of the country’s population.
Ninety top IAS officers decide India’s budget but only three belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC) communities, which form at least 50 per cent of the country’s population.
Dalits and Adivasis (tribals) comprise 15 per cent and eight per cent, respectively, of India’s population but have only three and one such officer, according to the Congress leader.
He said the caste census is like getting an X-ray done to identify anomalies but the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are opposed to it as they don't want the "truth" to come out.
The history of Dalits or OBCs was not being taught in schools, he said, alleging that efforts are now being made to erase that history.
The Congress leader said the public sector is being privatised, and stressed that it should be termed de-reservation. He accused the RSS and BJP of doing this for years.
Gandhi called the Agniveer scheme – for short-term induction of personnel in the Army, Navy and Air Force – a ploy to snatch pension from 90 per cent of people.
“The reality of the Agnipath scheme is that the pension of Indian youth, compensation, canteen facilities and respect have been snatched from him,” the former Congress president said.
Earlier, speaking at an event here, where he unveiled a statue of Shivaji, Gandhi alleged that the warrior king’s statue collapsed in the state’s Sindhudurg district as the intentions and ideology of those in power were wrong.
“There is no use of bowing before Shivaji Maharaj after scaring people, destroying the Constitution and institutions in the country,” he said, apparently targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had apologised to Shivaji Maharaj and those hurt by the statue collapse.
“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not just a name or a king. For us, he is our deity. Today, I bow my head at his feet and apologise to my deity,” Modi had said on August 30 during his visit to Maharashtra.
The 35-foot statue of Shivaji Maharaj, which collapsed on August 26, was unveiled by the PM on December 4, 2023, on the occasion of Navy Day.
“There are two ideologies in the country – one which protects the Constitution that talks of equality and unity. This is Shivaji Maharaj's ideology. The second ideology is the one that is into destroying the Constitution,” Gandhi said.
"They get up in the morning and plan how to destroy the Constitution, which is based on the ideals of the Shivaji Maharaj. They attack the institutions of the country, scare and threaten people and then bow before Shivaji's statue. There is no use of it. If you pray before Shivaji's statue, then you have to protect the Constitution," Gandhi claimed.
He said the intentions are visible and cannot be hidden. “They built Shivaji Maharaj's statue and in a few days, it collapsed. Their intentions were not right. The statue gave them the message that if you built Shivaji Maharaj's statue then you have to follow his ideals. Which is why the statue collapsed because their ideology is wrong,” he said.
When Shivaji Maharaj was to be coronated, it was the same ideology that did not allow his coronation. This is not new, he said.
“This is the same ideology that Shivaji Maharaj fought with. Congress is fighting with the same ideology that Shivaji Maharaj fought with,” Gandhi added.
Chhatrapati Shivaji’s message to the world was that the country belongs to everyone. The Constitution is a symbol of his ideals, he said.
“If people like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and social reformer Shahu Maharaj were not there, the Constitution also would not have existed," the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
Gandhi also interacted with Ajit Sandhe, a tempo driver. During his visit, BJP workers staged a protest and showed black flags to Gandhi over his remarks on freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar.
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