Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lashed out at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat here on Saturday for undermining the Constitution by suggesting that India secured “true independence” with the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22 last year.
Rahul also reiterated the Congress’s promise to conduct a caste census and break the 50 per cent reservation ceiling to ensure that the backward classes, Dalits and the Scheduled Tribes got a fair representation in every walk of life.
“Mohan Bhagwat is saying that the Ganga does not originate in Gangotri. He is saying that India did not become independent on August 15, 1947, but got independence later. If he is saying this, he is negating the Constitution,” Rahul said.
“He (Bhagwat) is openly saying that the thoughts contained in the Constitution are not needed. He says the Constitution was not a result of Independence. He is destroying the thought of the Constitution from India, its people and its institutions,” the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
Rahul was speaking at the Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan organised by an NGO. This was his first visit to the state capital after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Waving a copy of the Constitution, Rahul pointed out that it was not just a book but represented thousands of years of the thoughts of the country. It contained the voices of the Buddha and top leaders from different states, including Narayana Guru, Basavanna, Mahatma Phule, Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar.
“The Constitution also contains the pain of injustice to lakhs and crores of the Dalits, backwards and tribals. It has not been able to remove the pain entirely but it has reduced it a bit. It is like the Ganga and we want to spread it to every corner of the country,” Rahul said.
The Congress MP from Rae Bareli asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seeking more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls to change the Constitution but the people showed him that they would throw him away if he disrespected it.
Rahul said that several Dalit, tribal and backward MPs of the BJP had confided in him their dissatisfaction with the way things were going and lamented that they felt caged as the real power lay elsewhere.
Rahul also shared his experience of visiting AIIMS, Delhi, on Friday night where he met patients and their families lying on footpaths, in subways and around metro stations.
“They were suffering from cancer and heart ailments, but were lying there in the cold. They cannot go to private hospitals. You are not present anywhere in education, health, business, industries and other sectors. You all fought and got political representation, but did not get power. The power went to Adani, Ambani and the RSS, which is inserting its people in every institution,” Rahul said.
“Take out the list of the top 500 companies in the country. Tell me if there is one Dalit or tribal among their owners or top management. The government is giving away all the wealth — airports, ports, telephones and other things to them,” he claimed.
The Congress leader asserted that the first step towards addressing the issue was conducting a caste census.
“I am not letting go of the caste census even if it harms me politically. It is like an X-ray or MRI and will reveal the population and participation of people in the government, industries, media and other sectors. We cannot talk about development without it. It will not be like the fake one done in Bihar. The entire system in the country is collapsing because there is no justice for the poor, farmers, workers and unemployed,” Rahul said.
“We will break the 50 per cent reservation wall. It should be more than that and commensurate with the population of various castes. Every caste should be represented. The fight is between the Constitution and Manuwad. It is a fight for justice and equality against hatred and violence,” he added.
Later, Rahul went to the state Congress headquarters at Sadaqat Ashram in Patna and addressed party leaders and workers. He also inaugurated houses for party office-bearers and an auditorium.
The Congress leader visited Gardanibagh to meet the youths staging a sit-in for one month to seek cancellation of the civil services exam (preliminary) conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission over alleged paper leaks and other irregularities.
Rahul sat with the protesters and talked to them. He said that Bihar had become a centre of paper leaks and atrocities on students.
Earlier in the day, Rahul bumped into RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav at a hotel in the state capital where he had made a stopover to freshen up. Tejashwi was present there to attend the RJD national executive.
Rahul, Lalu and Tejashwi had a long chat away from the media glare. They discussed the way ahead in politics, especially in the light of the Assembly elections scheduled later this year.
Tejashwi slams Nitish
Tejashwi on Saturday slammed Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for claiming that sartorial tastes of women in the state improved after he assumed power two
decades ago.
Nitish made the remark while he was in Begusarai district as a part of his state-wide Pragati Yatra.
Tejashwi shared on X the video clip in which the JDU chief can be heard saying: “Girls have become so confident. They speak so well and dress up so well. Did we see them wearing such fine clothes earlier?”
The RJD leader, who is now the leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly, wrote an angry post in Hindi with the hashtag “ShameOnNitish”.
Tejashwi said the septuagenarian needed to remember that “he was the chief minister and not women’s fashion designer”.
“It is not that the daughters of Bihar earlier did not wear good clothes. They also covered themselves with self-respect (swabhiman) and self-reliance (swavalamban),” said Tejashwi, who has been trying to woo women voters ahead of the Assembly polls with the promise of a monthly stipend if his party came to power.
“Do not try to be a specialist in women’s dress (stree paridhan visheshagya). Your thinking is warped (ghatiya soch) and your statement is a direct insult to half of the population (aadhi aabadi-a Hindi colloquialism for women),” Tejashwi added.