KOLAR: In a strong rebuttal to BJP’s allegations that he insulted the OBC community with the ‘Modi’ surname remark that led to his disqualification as an MP, Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi here on Sunday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) that was initiated by the Congress-led UPA government in 2011.
He asked Modi to remove the 50 per cent ceiling on quota to provide reservation to communities proportionate to their population. Addressing the Jai Bharat rally, his first public meeting after being disqualified, he said, “There are only 7 per cent people belonging to OBCs serving as secretaries, who are the backbone, in your government. There should be sharing of power proportionate to their population. If you (Modi) do not release the census data, it’s an insult to OBCs. The data will reveal their population and the opportunities given to them.”
Rahul was cautious while addressing the huge crowd as in his entire speech, he did not mention Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, and his eviction from Delhi quarters. He, however, chose to target the relationship between Modi and Adani, alleging that it is proving to be dangerous for the country.
Who invested Rs 20,000 crore in Adani’s shell companies, asks Rahul
He claimed that he is being snubbed in the Lok Sabha and his disqualification came in the backdrop of raising issues of malpractice of industrialist Adani and his defence infrastructure company allegedly having a Chinese as a director. He alleged that Modi favoured Adani by getting him contracts and investments into his benami companies illegally. It was because of these issues that he was being stymied in Parliament and the Speaker failed to help when the ruling party members stalled the session, he claimed.
“The Prime Minister should tell us whose Rs 20,000 crore was invested in Adani’s shell company. Disqualify me, put me in jail, do anything, it doesn’t matter. I will never stop asking this,” he said. “India’s airports were given to Adani by changing the rules, though he had no experience. For instance, huge amounts of loans were granted to him by banks to take up the Mumbai airport project.
Whichever country Modi visited, including Australia, Sri Lanka and even Bangladesh, the deals were struck in favour of Adani. He also got the contract for defence infrastructure during Modi’s Israel visit. As I raised these questions, the ruling BJP government and its members did not allow Parliament to function,” he alleged. Attacking the Basavaraj Bommai- led Karnataka government, he said it indulged in massive corruption and contractors wrote about it to Modi.
“Why did the Prime Minister not reply to their letter? His silence amounts to admission of corruption in the government,” he said. He said Congress has promised 200 units of free electricity to every family, Rs 2,000 every month to housewives and Rs 3,000 to graduates and Rs 1,500 to diploma holders, who are unemployed. “In some days, Congress will form the government and we will fulfil all these promises,” he asserted.