Rahul flays Maya and Modi, praises Kanshi Ram
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday lashed out at BSP chief Mayawati, accusing her of not doing anything for dalits, even as he flayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “attempts to discontinue UPA government’s welfare schemes.”
“Mayawati failed to use the party platform, provided to her by BSP founder late Kanshi Ram, for the benefit of dalits,” he asserted.
“People say BSP did not do a good job. I want to make a difference between the BSP, its chief Mayawati and the party founder Kanshi Ram. Kansh Ram did a good job for dalits. But Mayawati did not properly use the platform that Kanshi Ram provided. So, the benefits did not reach dalits,” said Rahul while addressing a Dalit Leadership Development Conclave here.
A ‘Lucknow Declaration’ titled ‘Dalit Manifesto’ (for 2017 polls), moved by senior party leader PL Punia, was adopted at the conclave organized by UPCC’s scheduled caste department.
“Mayawati did not take the dalits forward. Instead she crushed them in the organisation. If she had not feared the young dalit leadership, the Congress would not have got this opportunity. This is a reality today. An opportunity is waiting for the Congress. The dalits did not get what they deserved. She keeps all the powers with her and does not use them in the right manner,” said Rahul, indicating that dalits were turning towards the Congress now.
Rahul invited dalit youths to the Congress while declaring that his party would form the government in Uttar Pradesh after the 2017 assembly elections. “We invite dalit youths to the Congress. You did not get the powers you deserved. Uttar Pradesh will change if you join our party,” said Rahul, adding: “We want to develop a new dalit leadership all over the country.” The Congress vice president termed Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide as murder “committed by the government of India.” “Rohith did not commit suicide. Hindustan ki sarkar (union government) exerted undue pressure on him. When he wanted to speak about his pain the union government put pressure on him,” said Rahul. He said the Congress was fighting the RSS ideology across India. “BJP and RSS want to enforce their ideology in the education system and most of the vice chancellors of central universities are of RSS ideology. Even the Hyderabad University VC is a hardcore RSS ideologue,” he said. Speaking on the UPA government’s welfare programmes, Rahul said the prime minister found faults with schemes like MNREGA. “On the other hand, union finance minister (Arun Jaitley) said prosperity had reached rural areas due to these schemes,” asserted Rahul. He said the BJP wanted to discontinue all UPA schemes “but the Congress would not allow them to do so.” Earlier, when Rahul was on way from Amausi airport to Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) headquarters here, some BJP youth wing activists waved black flags to protest against his stance on the JNU row. “They were a handful of BJP youth wing workers,” said senior party leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi.