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Congress should give more representation to Dalits: Rahul

  •   Tue, Oct 08 2013 12:57:43 PM

New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS): Reaching out to the Dalits with assembly and Lok Sabha elections approaching, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said they should be given greater representation in the party.

Addressing a function of the Bhagwan Valmiki Foundation here, Gandhi described the Valmiki Samaj as the "reed ki haddi" or spine of the Congress party and said whatever the party does for the Dalit society is not enough.

"The more representation you give them in the Congress party, it is not enough. These people are the spine of the Congress party and we must do more for them," said Gandhi.

As slogans of "Rahul Gandh' zindabad" rang out, the Congress vice president said enumerated the legislation brought by the United Progressive Alliance government, including on the right to education, food security, the rural employment guarantee scheme and the RTI.

He said earlier the slogan of the Congress was that "we shall sleep on half empty stomachs but vote for the Congress" and now it will be "Bhar pet kayenge aur Congress ko vote deyenge (Will sleep on full stomachs and vote for Congress)" due to the food security act brought recently.

He attacked the opposition, saying it had never bothered to "hold the hands of the poor or interact with them".

"Congress is the party for the poor, our opposition does not understand the problems of the poor. They don't go to their homes and hold their hands or discuss their problems," he said.

"And then they speak of India Shining. And lose the polls. They lost it in 2004, in 2009 and will lose again in 2014," said the Gandhi scion.

"If you want to win elections, go to the homes of the poor and hold their hands and then go and win the elecitons," said Gandhi.

Earlier at a separate event, Rahul Gandhi criticised Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati.

"In the second stage of the Dalit movement, the production of leaders stopped, Mayawati-ji has captured the leadership and she does not let people come up," Gandhi said while addressing a national awareness camp on Scheduled Caste empowerment here.

"Though it is her personal choice, it is a great time for Congress party who has a history of working for Dalits," he added.

The Congress vice president also said that the Congress party, in a systematic manner, will have Dalit leaders at the panchayat, legislative and even the policy level.

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Comment on this article

  • indian, bangalore

    Tue, Oct 08 2013

    The Supreme Court today rejected the Centre's plea to modify an interim ruling that the Aadhaar or the Unique Identity Card is not mandatory for essential services.

    The court also took a dig at the government over its ordinance to override a Supreme Court order disqualifying convicted MPs, withdrawn last week in a blaze of controversy.

    When the government lawyer admitted that a law on Aadhaar was before the cabinet, the judges sarcastically said, "You have the ordinance route also. If you have a law this case becomes irrelevant."

    This comes on a day the Cabinet approved the National Identification Authority of India Bill that will give legal backing to the Aadhaar card. The Bill may be tabled during the winter session of
    Parliament, say sources. The authority that issues the 12-digit Aadhaar numbers to citizens currently operates through an utive order.

    Last month, the top court ruled that the Centre or states must not insist on Aadhaar cards for providing essential services. "No citizen should suffer for the want of Aadhaar cards", the court had said on a petition questioning the validity of the Unique Identity Card scheme, which has cost the centre Rs. 50,000 crore.

    The court's order was viewed as a setback for the Manmohan Singh government's plans to reach out to the masses with ambitious schemes like food security and direct cash transfer ahead of national polls due in May.

    The Centre had asked the court to make Aadhaar cards mandatory for social welfare schemes heavily subsidized by the government. The government argued today that if the order was not reviewed, nobody would get subsidised cooking gas as it had been linked to Aadhaar cards in almost 100 districts.

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