LUCKNOW: Launching a scathing attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the ruling BJP, Congress’s Reabareli MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi claimed that there was no place for Dalits and the backwards in both the right-wing organisation. He was addressing Congress functionaries while deliberating over the issues of social justice and the constitution here on Friday.
The Congress leader was participating in a Samvidhan Sammelan organised by the party in Lucknow, where he paid tribute to BSP founder president Kanshi Ram two days ahead of his birth anniversary.
Claiming that if Jawaharlal Nehru were alive today, Kanshi Ram would have been the CM, Gandhi said the late leader’s struggle and vision were relevant in the contemporary political scenario.
Meanwhile, the event, which was attended by over 4,000 Congress functionaries, came to an end with a proposal seeking Bharat Ratna for Kanshi Ram posthumously.
Criticising the RSS, Gandhi alleged that the senior ranks lack representation from OBCs, Dalits and Adivasis. “A review of the organisation’s top structure and senior functionaries would show the absence of these communities,” he said, adding that it reflected a wider imbalance of representation in the country’s power structure.
Referring to Kanshi Ram, Gandhi said his politics were rooted in the idea that growth should be relegated to a small section of society; rather, it should benefit even the poorest and most marginalised ones as well. He claimed that India’s major institutions still did not reflect the country’s social composition.
He said that large sections of the population, especially Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes, extremely backward groups and minorities, were under-represented in the judiciary, bureaucracy, cabinet, education system and corporate sector.
Describing the Constitution as more than a legal text drafted after Independence, Gandhi said it embodied the voices and values of reformers and thinkers such as Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Narayana Guru, Basavanna and Gautam Buddha.