Congress overlooked interests of Dalits, backwards in 90s: Rahul Gandhi

The Congress did not protect the interests of the Dalits and backwards the way it should have in the 1990s, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday. Addressing a programme organised by Dalit influencers here, Gandhi said merely getting political representation for Dalits and backwards would not help solve their problems unless they got “bhaagidaari” in institutions and wealth.

He also said that once the “original base” of the Congress party is back, the BJP and the RSS would have to run away. It will happen soon, he added.

Gandhi said during Indira Gandhi’s tenure, the Congress had full confidence of Dalits, minorities, backwards, but later in the 1990s “there were shortcomings,” and the fact is not lost on the party.

“We would not talk just about representation. You talk about political representation and Kanshi Ram fought for political representation. But they have made political representation irrelevant. Lok Sabha BJP MPs say they have made them a statue as they can’t even speak. The institutions, be it education or corporate India, judiciary, we have to get the share of power,” he said at the ‘Vanchit Samaj: Dasha aur Disha’ programme.

The former Congress president said there is a “huge difference” between representation and share of power.

“Like I said in the budget, backwards have 50 per cent population but the share of power is just 5 per cent. Dalits have 15 per cent population but have only one per cent share of power. The next question is the share of power and the share of wealth,” he said.

Gandhi asserted that unless the Dalits and the backwards got a just share in power, the problem would not be solved.

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