Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today told the Bharatiya Janata Party to forget about scrapping the constitution and doing away with reservations, as the party (the BJP) will not even get 150 seats in the elections.
Addressing a largely attended public rally today in Ratlam, Gandhi said, the BJP leaders were seeking 400 plus seats to change the constitution as they wanted to do away with reservations. Forget about 400 seats, they are not getting even 150, he remarked.
But, he asserted, forget about scrapping the reservations, the INDIA government that will be formed after the elections, will not only protect the reservations but will also remove the fifty percent cap on these. “We will provide as much reservation to people as they need”, he added.
He said the election was being fought to save the constitution, the rights of people and the reservations. He pointed out, the BJP leaders had repeatedly made their intentions clear of doing away with the constitution and changing it.
Gandhi said, whatever rights the people of the country like the Adivasis, the Dalits, or the Backwards had got, were only because of the constitution. He said, Modi wants to set aside the constitution to enjoy absolute power. But, he asserted, the Congress party and the INDIA bloc will not let that happen.
Underlining the need for caste census in the country, Gandhi said, only after the caste census followed by economic survey can the people get to know about their actual population and how much wealth they control or own.
He pointed out, right now, the Dalits, the Adivasis, the backwards and others like them had no participation and representation anywhere whether in the media, corporate world or any other decision making institutions. He said, the reason that the Adivasi atrocities were not being reported in the media was because there were no Adivasis in the media.
He said, same was the situation everywhere. “You don’t have any participation or share anywhere in this country and that is the truth. The Dalits, the Adivasis and the Backwards have no participation and we are going to change it”, he assured.
Besides the caste census, Gandhi said, the INDIA government will provide Rs one lakh to every poor family every year. Spelling out the details, he said, one woman in every poor family across the country will receive Rs one lakh directly in her bank account every year.
For the unemployed youth, he said, there will be the guarantee of “pehli naukri pakki” (guaranteed first job) immediately after completing graduation or diploma with a guaranteed income of Rs one lakh for one year. He said, Prime Minister Modi had failed to fulfill his promise of providing two crore jobs every year with the result the unemployment in the country was at a 45 year high.
For the farmers, he said, there will be legal guarantee for the MSP, besides their loans will be waived off.
For the MGNREGA workers, he said, the minimum daily wages will be raised from Rs 250 to Rs 400. Besides, the income of Asha and Anganwadi workers will be doubled.
