INDIA bloc will end 50% cap on quota

Bansgaon (UP): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Monday that an INDIA bloc government will end the 50 per cent cap on reservation while asserting that the alliance will protect the Constitution with "dil, jaan aur khoon".

Addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh's Bansgaon with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the Congress leader also mocked the prime minister over his "sent by God" comment and said God sent Modi to help Adani and not the poor. "There is a fight of ideology in these elections. There is INDIA bloc and the Constitution on one side and those who want to finish the Constitution on the other," Gandhi said at the rally.

Holding up a copy of the Constitution and photograph of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Gandhi said Ambedkar dedicated his life to the Constitution. "Dalits faced atrocities for years. In our Constitution, they were given honour. But now, the BJP says that they will tear apart Ambedkar's work. No force can dare to tear the constitution of Dr Ambedkar and (Jawaharlal) Nehru," the former Congress president said.

The INDIA bloc will protect the Constitution with "dil, jaan aur khoon (heart, life and blood)", he said and added that the alliance will end the 50 per cent cap on reservation while also increasing it.

“We did this wherever we ran the government -- be it in Chhattisgarh or Madhya Pradesh. We will do this in the entire country,” he said.

Taking a dig the prime minister over his “sent by God” remark, Gandhi alleged that Modi has created 22 billionaires while the INDIA bloc, when it assumes power, will create “crores of lakhpatis”. The Congress leader also accused the prime minister of waiving loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore of his “billionaire friends” and said the country will never forgive Modi for this.

The former Congress president alleged that Modi snatched money from the poor and gave it to corporates, who invested that in foreign countries. “These elections are to save the country, Constitution, democracy and reservations for the poor,” he said. He also hit out at President Droupadi Murmu’s absence from the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Gandhi claimed, “The president of India, who is a tribal, is told that you should not come. Your face should not be seen. At the inauguration, not a single backward, Dalit, labourer or farmer was seen but there was a list of Adani-Ambani. Whatever he does, he does it for Adani and Ambani. Now we have to work for the poor.