'Rajiv Gandhi Opposed It In Parliament': Union Min Dharmendra Pradhan Slams Rahul Over Caste Census Demand
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, the Education Minister said that his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had opposed the OBC quota recommended by the Mandal Commission.
New Delhi: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday reacted to the Congress party's resolution supporting caste census in the country.
“Census comes within the purview of Central Government. In India, caste-based census was held before independence. After that, there was a conscious decision on how to have a census”, he told news agency ANI.
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, the Education Minister said that his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had opposed the OBC quota recommended by the Mandal Commission.
"I would like to ask Rahul Gandhi that when the recommendations of the Mandal Commission were made in the 90s, what was the stand taken by his father? He vehemently opposed it in the Parliament...They were in power for so long. They never took up this responsibility...This is a tactic by the Congress to hide from the sin they committed in the past few days," he added.
#WATCH | Delhi | Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan says, "Census comes within the purview of Central Government. In India, caste-based census was held before independence. After that, there was a conscious decision on how to have a census. I would like to ask Rahul Gandhi that… pic.twitter.com/qxoEphquuv
— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2023
His remarks came after Rahul Gandhi earlier in the day announced that there will be caste surveys in Congress-ruled states. The grand old party at the Congress Working Committee meeting passed a resolution to demand for Caste Census throughout the country.
Opposing Congress's statement, Union Minister Bhupender Yadav said, "Rahul Gandhi's statement on OBC census is nothing but another lie. We know that when the matter of the Mandal Commission came before the Parliament, it was opposed by late Rajiv Gandhi. When the Kaka Kalelkar report came out in the 1950s and the Mandal Commission's report came out in the 1980s - Congress did not implement it."
#WATCH | Union Minister Bhupender Yadav says, "Rahul Gandhi's statement on OBC census is nothing but another lie. We know that when the matter of the Mandal Commission came before the Parliament, it was opposed by late Rajiv Gandhi. When the Kaka Kalelkar report came out in the… pic.twitter.com/pgCKfbC6pV
— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2023
"The nation knows that when Rahul Gandhi was the Congress president and Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, the matter of Constitutional Commission raised by the OBC community was not implemented by the Congress...Congress has a bad record and false guarantee," he added.
Responding to the Congress Working Committee's decision to support caste census, BJP OBC Morcha National President and MP said, "This is just a drama, they want to do politics over caste...has Congress ever made an OBC person CM? We have made an OBC person PM and a Dalit person President."
In a press conference, Rahul Gandhi said that the chief ministers of Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan believe that it is a very important step.
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