Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday reiterated the demand for a caste census and said that despite constituting 73 percent of the total population of the country Dalits, backward classes, and tribals are forced to live in poverty.
Addressing a public meeting at the supermarket in Rae Bareli during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the Congress leader said despite having a population of 73 percent Dalits, backward classes and tribals are deprived. “Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a census based on caste,” he said.
Earlier, Rahul’s Nyaya Yatra entered Rae Bareli from Fursatganj and reached the Super Market at around 3.15 PM via Sandi Square, Rahi, Malikmau Square, and Civil Lines Degree College.
Addressing the meeting, he said, “Dalit, OBC, and tribals constitute 73 percent of the total population and despite being around 90 percent of the population including minority EWS, today they have to wander for jobs and every penny.”
Referring to the consecration ceremony of Shri Ram Lalla in the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Congress leader said there too, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his fellow billionaire industrialists were present but no Dalit, poor backward person could witness this auspicious work of God.
He said Dalits, backward and tribal communities will have to unite and take revolutionary steps which will be accomplished through caste census. He said that today members of backward, Dalits and tribal communities do not own any big private companies.
He said, “Whereas if you take out the list labourers and daily wagers of MNREGA you will find Dalits, backward tribals, and the poor in it.”
Rahul alleged that Dalits, backward tribals, and the poor are being exploited while the wealth of India is going into the pockets of capitalists.
The Congress leader was traveling in an open vehicle in this Nyaya Yatra and was accompanied by Sonia Gandhi’s representative Kishorilal Sharma and Rae Bareli Municipality Chairman Shatrughan Sonkar.
After addressing the meeting in the supermarket for about 15 minutes, he left for Lucknow via Ghantaghar, Kaharon Ka Adda, and Ratapur.
