'Will Remove 50% Limit, Give As Much Reservation As Required': Rahul Gandhi At MP Rally

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections on Monday, said that his party would remove the Supreme Court-mandated limit of 50 per cent reservation. “We will give the amount of reservation required by the Dalits, Adivasis, backwards and poor,” he said.

Rahul, whose candidature from Rae Bareli was announced last week, was addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district. “This is an election to save Constitution. BJP and RSS want to finish it, change it. We’re trying to save it. They want to take away your rights of water, forest and land. PM Modi wants his rule.”

We want to stop him, he said, adding that public sector, reservation and health facilities are there because of the Constitution.

“All the rights that the Adivasis, backwards and Dalits get, are due to this (Constitution). BJP leaders have said very clearly that if they come to power, they will put this book aside. This is why they have given a slogan of 400 seats. They are not going to get even 150 seats,” Rahul, who is also contesting the polls from Wayanad, said.

He further said, “Their leaders have been saying that they will take away the reservation… We will increase the reservations to more than 50%. We will remove the 50% limit implemented by the court. We will give the amount of reservation required by the Dalits, Adivasis, backwards and poor.”

The Congress leader’s comments come amid the high-end battle between the NDA and the INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, has taken several jibes at the Opposition party over reservation and wealth distribution.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on May 1, had slammed that the Congress saying that their “intention is to loot the reservation and give it to Muslims”. “I challenge the Shehzada of Congress to declare that they will never misuse the reservation based on religion… They will not declare this because there is something suspicious.”

The PM said that the Opposition wants to snatch away the reservation for their vote bank, adding that “they should give a written declaration that they will not give reservation on a religious basis”.

Rahul, at the Ratlam rally, also said that “caste census” would be a game changer for the politics in the nation. “We gave Land Acquisition Bill, Forest Rights Act. Whatever we do for your rights, they reverse it when they come to power. There is no stake of Adivasi, Dalit, Pichhde in the country. We want to change it.”

For this, he said, the Congress gas decided that that a caste-based census will be done in the country. “There will be an economic survey. Everything will come out. It is a revolutionary work. It will change the politics of India. We will do it.”

The Congress leader said that after coming to power, the grand old party will raise MGNREGA payment from Rs 250 to Rs 400 per day. They will also introduce ‘Pehli Naukri Pakki’ scheme, which will ensure job for one year to unemployed youth in country.

“This election is for saving the Constitution, quotas, and rights of tribal,” Rahul Gandhi said.

(With agency inputs)

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