NEW DELHI, Feb 5: Ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled in Bihar later this year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made an attempt to attract the Dalit voters by taking part in the 130th birth anniversary of Scheduled Caste (SC) leader Jaglal Choudhary who played an important role in the Independence movement.
While addressing the gathering at S.K. Memorial Hall in Patna, Mr Gandhi said he was waiting for the day when Dalits and weaker sections would be seen in the leadership position in every institution in India. It was his second visit to Bihar within a month. Last time on January 18, Mr Gandhi was in Patna to attend a conference on ‘Safeguarding Constitution.’
According to the Bihar government’s caste-based-survey, the State has 19.65% SC population and presently Chirag Paswan of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram-Vilas) and Jitan Ram Manjhi of Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) are two claimants of the SC communities in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Jaglal Choudhary, who hailed from the Pasi community, was a prominent Dalit face in Bihar and also a former Minister.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Gandhi said: “By following the ideals of Dr Ambedkar and Jaglal Choudhary, we will defeat injustice and establish justice.” He further said, “I want to see a day when people from Dalit, tribal and backward classes are seen in the leadership position of institutions in India. I want to see the day when the owners of the top 10 companies of the country are from Dalit, tribal and backward classes. I am fighting to achieve this goal and will continue to fight.”
Mr Gandhi, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, stressed upon a caste census to be conducted in the country to know the exact number of people belonging to the weaker sections. “We have to find out who has what population and what is their participation in the country? There is only one way to find this out, that is a caste census. Caste census will tell us how many Dalits, OBCs, tribals, minorities and poor general category people are there in the country. Then, we will find out how much participation those people have in the institutions of the country,” Mr Gandhi said.
“Baba Saheb gave us the Constitution and this Constitution has the voice of the people of India. Only the Constitution can give us participation and protect us. The people of RSS-BJP want to end it because they know that as long as the Constitution exists, the poor, Dalits, backward and tribal people of the country cannot be suppressed. Nowadays, the leaders of RSS-BJP fold their hands in front of Ambedkarji but attack the principles for which Ambedkarji fought,” Mr Gandhi said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
