Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had panicked after seeing the Congress' "revolutionary" manifesto. "So did you like the Congress manifesto? You must have seen that the Prime Minister has panicked. It is a revolutionary manifesto," Rahul Gandhi said while speaking at the Social Justice conclave organised by the Congress in Delhi.
Rahul alleged that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre transferred crores of rupees to a few billionaires and said that the Congress manifesto talks about returning a small amount of that money to the people who are at the bottom pyramid of income and wealth distribution. "There is mention of x-ray (caste census) and income inequality created by Modi ji. The Congress will return a small amount of money to 90% of the people of the country from the Rs 16 lakh crore given to the 22 people by Narendra Modi," he said
His comment was in the backdrop of Prime Minister Modi's criticism that the Congress manifesto smacks of appeasement and that if it came to power, it would redistribute people's wealth and also give reservations to Muslims from the quota for SC, ST, and OCB communities. Rahul claimed that there is no one from the Other Backward Classes community in India's rich people's list.
"Prime Minister Modi has been saying for ten years that he is an OBC but when I talked about caste census, Modi said that there is no caste. If there is no caste how are you OBC? Then he said that in India there are only two castes poor and rich. All right if you agree that there are rich and poor people in India, then bring out the lists of poor and rich in India. Then you will find OBCs and Dalits, Adivasis in poor people's list, and see no Dalits, Adivasis and backwards in the rich list," he said.
He said that ensuring social justice for the 90 percent of Indians who are at the bottom of the pyramid is his life mission and there is compromise on it.
"Caste census is not politics for me, it is my life's mission, and I will not leave it. No power can stop the caste census. As soon as the Congress government comes, we will first conduct a caste census. This is my guarantee," Rahul Gandhi said.
"They say I'm not serious, I'm not interested in politics. Land Acquisition Bill, MNREGA, Niyamgiri, Bhatta Parsaul are not serious. When people talk about the larger population they call us non-serious. When you don't have the loud speaker in hand, everything that you say is non-serious," he further added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)
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