Rahul Gandhi also said that Congress is committed to make India a fair place and "we understand that India today in terms of treatment of Dalits, tribals, poor and minorities, is not a fair place."
SAN FRANCISCO — Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is on a six-day US visit, has once again reiterated his demand for caste-based census and has accused the BJP and RSS of attacking the Constitution of India.
He also said that the beauty of India is its diversity and attack on any language is an attack on the Constitution of the country, which he will not allow to happen.
Interacting with the Indian diaspora here, Rahul Gandhi, who is on a six-day visit to the US said, “India has never rejected an idea. Everyone who has come to India, India has welcomed them with open arms and absorbed their ideas. And that is the India we like, which is humble, which respects, that listens and that is affectionate.”
He dubbed the Indians based in the US as the ambassadors of Indian culture and said that “it is the reason why all of you are here”.
Taking a potshot at the BJP, he said, “And if you had believed in hatred, anger and arrogance then you would not be sitting here but in the BJP meeting and I would be doing ‘Mann Ki Baat’. So thanks to everyone for holding our culture, allowing them to learn from our culture and allowing us to be proud as you all are our ambassadors. If the US says that Indians are intelligent, masters in IT, it is because of you all because you are holding the idea of respect and culture of India.”
To a question about the central government trying to impose the idea of one language, the former Wayanad Lok Sabha MP said, “The definition of India in the Constitution is a union of states. And within our Constitution the idea of language, culture, history and each one of them has to be protected.”
Slamming the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he said, “The BJP and the RSS are attacking that idea and the Constitution. For me Tamil is more than a language to Tamil people. It is not just a language, but it is their history, culture and their way of life. And I will never ever allow the Tamil language to be threatened because for me threatening the Tamil language is threatening the idea of India. Threatening Bengali, Punjabi, Kannada and Hindi all are attacks on India. Our strength comes from our diversity. Our strength comes from accepting that we are all different but we can work together.”
The former Congress chief once again reiterated his party’s push for the caste census.
“When we were in the system, we had carried out a caste census. The idea behind the caste census was to have an X-ray of Indian society to find out what are the exact demographics of the society, how many people of different communities, and different castes are there. So without knowing the demographics and who is who, it is difficult to distribute wealth and power effectively.
“And that is the reason why we are pushing the BJP for issuing caste census and they are not doing that and when we come to power we will do that,” he said.
He also said that Congress is committed to make India a fair place and “we understand that India today in terms of treatment of Dalits, tribals, poor and minorities, is not a fair place.”
“There is a Nyay Scheme which can provide minimum income to every Indian, schemes like MGNREGA, increase in public education, public healthcare and I think these are things that can be done to make it a more fair place,” he said.
On a question over the women empowerment and the delay in the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament, the Congress leader said, “We are committed to it and we tried to pass it in last government but some of our allies were not happy with it and they didn’t allow to pass that bill.”
“So I am confident if we come to power we will pass that bill. We believe in empowering women and their participation in politics. Involving them in governance, business and politics is the way to empower them,” he added.
‘New Parliament is distraction’
During an interaction with the Indian community at the University of Santa Clara, Rahul Gandhi responded to a question about the provision of seating 888 in the newly inaugurated Parliament building and whether proportion to population was a fair way of ensuring representation.
He weighed into the proportion-per-population delimitation row while talking about the increased number of seats in the new Parliament House, which he said was a distraction as the real issues were unemployment that the BJP can’t discuss.
“I will have to look at exactly how they are thinking about doing it. One has to be very careful when one changes the representative structure of the country. I would be quite interested in understanding how they’ve come up with the number 800 and what are the criteria they are using,” Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday.
He said: “If I see how exactly they are coming up with 800 and what is the design then I would be able to answer if I agree with the number 800 but I have not seen how they have calculated it.
“It depends how the ratios change. It is currently based on population. I think the Parliament House is a distraction. The real issues in India are unemployment, price rise, spread of anger and hatred, crumbling educational system, price of health. BJP can’t really discuss these issues, that’s why they have to do this whole sceptre thing. Lying down and doing all that.”
Rahul Gandhi arrived here on Tuesday morning. He was travelling on an ordinary passport as he had surrendered his diplomatic passport following his disqualification as a MP.
Indian Overseas Congress Secretary Virendra Vashistha said that Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the US is to spread the idea of love, and he will be interacting with different groups during his six-day visit. — IANS
