If you do not belong to Upper Caste, you are second-class citizen of India: Rahul

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi Monday launched a fierce attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government and alleged that due to the NDA government’s policies, the OBCs, EBCs, Dalits, tribals, and minorities have become second-class citizens of India.

“If you do not belong to the Upper Caste, you are a second-class citizen of India. It is not baseless. I have studied the system before making this statement,” he alleged.

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Speaking at the Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan (Save Constitution Conclave) here, he said, “I have been saying continuously that only through X-ray – that is, the scientific caste census – backward and deprived communities can get their due rights. Telangana has shown the way, this is the need of the whole country. Caste census will be done in India, we will get it done.”

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha claimed that the actual number of the backward and deprived communities in Telangana was obtained from the scientific caste census in the state, and a bill for proper reservation was passed in the assembly to ensure their equal participation in education, employment, and politics.

He added, “This is indeed a revolutionary step towards social justice, through which the 50 per cent wall on reservation in the state has also been demolished. By analysing the social and economic conditions of every community in Bihar with the data of the caste survey, such policies will be made to ensure the betterment of all.”

He also criticised the ideology of the RSS and Freedom Fighter Veer Damodar Savarkar and said that the Indian Constitution is based on thousands of years old ideologies of people who loved truth. It contains the thoughts of great men like Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, who loved truth. There is a whole list of people who loved the truth. Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, Lord Buddha, Guru Nanak Dev, Basavanna, Narayan Guru, and Kabir can be added to that list, he stated.

He said, “When you take the Constitution in your hand, you protect an ideology that is thousands of years old. It does not contain Savarkar’s ideology because he could not face the truth. Our Constitution is the protector of the truth of Hindustan, and what our leaders learned from the people is in this book.”

Rahul Gandhi called upon the people of Bihar to come forward not only to respect the Constitution, but also to protect it.

“The land of Bihar has always taken concrete steps against injustice – be it the Champaran Satyagraha movement against British rule or the revolution of social justice. Today that history is calling out again — against attacks on the Constitution, against partiality and discrimination, for economic, social equality and justice. Today, along with respecting the Constitution, we also have to protect it,” he said.