Lucknow Press
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has said that the Congress party will think about ending reservation only when there is fairness in terms of reservation in India and right now it is not so. Rahul said this while addressing the students at the prestigious Georgetown University in Washington. Here the students of the university had questioned Rahul about reservation and asked how long it will continue.
In response, Rahul Gandhi said, ‘When there is fairness in India (in terms of reservation), then we will think about ending reservation. Right now India is not a fair place for this.’ Rahul said, ‘When you look at the financial figures, tribals get 10 paise out of 100 rupees. Dalits get five rupees out of 100 rupees and people of Other Backward Classes (OBC) also get almost the same amount. The truth is that they are not getting proper participation.’
‘None of you will become Adani or Ambani’
Rahul said, ‘The problem is that 90 per cent of India’s population is not able to participate. Look at the list of every single ‘business leader’ of India. I have done that. Show me the Adivasi name. Show me the Dalit name. Show me the OBC name. I think one in the top 200 is an OBC. They are 50 per cent of India’s population. But we are not treating the disease.’ He said, ‘That is the problem. Now, this (reservation) is not the only means. There are other means too.’
Rahul Gandhi said, ‘There are many people who come from the upper caste, who say look, what have we done wrong? Why are we being punished? So, then you think about dramatically increasing the supply of some of these things. You think about decentralization of power. You think about involving many more people in the governance of our country. I would like to say with all due respect that I don’t think any of you are ever going to become Adani or Ambani. There is only one reason for this. You cannot become because the doors are closed for it. So the answer to the people of the general caste is that you open those doors.’
Consensus on caste census in India
When asked about the Uniform Civil Code, Rahul said he would comment on it only when he knows what the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is proposing. “The BJP is proposing a Uniform Civil Code. We have not seen it. We don’t know what they are talking about. There is no point for us to comment on it. When they bring it, we will see it and comment on it,” he said.
He also said that there are differences among the members of the ‘India’ alliance, but they also agree on many things. He said, ‘We agree that the Constitution of India should be protected. Most of us agree on the idea of caste census. We agree that only two industrialists, i.e. Adani and Ambani, should not run every business in India. Therefore, your saying that we do not agree, I think, is wrong.’
Rahul said, ‘Secondly, there will always be some differences in all coalitions. This is completely natural. There is nothing wrong in this. We have run governments many times which have been successful with coalitions. So we are confident that we can do this again.’
