BHOPAL: Three months after Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched the party’s poll campaign in Madhya Pradesh, her fourth-time MP brother Rahul Gandhi addressed his first election rally in the BJP-ruled state on Saturday, terming the coming assembly polls as “Gandhi vs. Godse ideological battle.”
While questioning why the OBC quota wasn’t included in the recently passed women's reservation bill, the former Congress president promised that the caste census would be the first thing to do “once our government comes to power at the centre.”
He was addressing the Jan Akrosh Rally in the Kalapipal assembly segment of OBC-dominant Shajapur district on Saturday.
Also prominently raising the issue of “rampant corruption,” he accused the BJP of turning MP into the “epicentre of corruption” in the country. “Maximum corruption in the country has been done by the BJP in MP, turning the state into the epicentre of corruption in the country. During the 18-year-long rule of BJP, 18,000 farmers have ended their lives in MP, which means that three farmers are losing lives daily in the state.”
While referring to the Women Reservation Bill, he said, “Narendra Modi prides himself as an OBC leader working for the interests of the backward castes. If it’s really true then why wasn’t the OBC quota included in the recently passed 33% women reservation bill. Ask any of the BJP MPs as to whether they were consulted by their party and leader while making laws, their answer will be No. The laws in the country are currently being framed by the RSS and 90 government officers, out of whom just three officers come from the OBC segment. Though OBCs constitute around 50% of the country's population, only three OBC segment officers (who are among the 90 officers who call the shots) control just 5% of funds out of the total budget of the country, running into 45 lakh crores rupees.”
“When I questioned the government about why the OBC doesn’t have enough representation among the 90 top officers at the centre, despite being around half of the country’s population, the BJP people started shivering, PM Narendra Modi ran away from answers, while home minister Amit Shah attempted to deflect the issue through diversionary tactics of Hindu-Muslim hate politics,” he added.
“Let me assure one and all, once our government returns to the centre, the caste census will be the first task to be done in the country. Do remember that three of our four chief ministers come from the OBC segment. Our previous government had conducted the caste census and those resultant numbers of various castes are with PM Modi. But he’ll not tell the OBC their actual numbers, as he is against giving those castes their due share in power. Even the BJP’s OBC leaders elected to the Vidhan Sabha are asked to remain silent,” Gandhi said.
One of the 11 poll guarantees announced by Kamal Nath in MP includes conducting a caste census in the state.
Addressing the rally, Gandhi termed the coming assembly polls in MP as a battle between Gandhi and Godse’s ideology. Alleging that the BJP had turned MP into the epicentre of corruption in the country, Gandhi said the BJP hasn’t left any sphere untouched by corruption, right from mid-day meals of kids to the construction of the Mahakal Lok temple corridor in Ujjain.
While maintaining that the Congress governments in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh had either already fulfilled their promises or were working on fulfilling the poll guarantees, Gandhi claimed that while 18,000 farmers have ended lives in MP during BJP’s 18 years long rule, in the adjoining Chhattisgarh, the Congress government has fulfilled its promise of rendering right price for the produce of paddy farmers.
“Owing to the politics of hate, arrogance and anger pursued by the BJP, the youth and farmers of MP, have started hating the BJP. Our government was already working on fulfilling its promise of waiving off loans of farmers in MP, but the BJP stole that government in 2020. Kamal Nath believes in fulfilling the promises and will continue the incomplete work after coming to power in MP,” Gandhi said.
While accusing PM Modi of promoting the interests of select industrialists, including ‘Adani Ji’ (Gautam Adani), the Congress MP claimed that it was to protect Adani’s interests that his Lok Sabha membership was terminated “by the BJP” in March 2023.