The Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that whatever happens, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot do caste census, and and it would be done only by the Congress.

The day the caste census is conducted and the day Tribals, Dalits and OBCs understand the meaning of the census, this country will change that day, Gandhi said, while addressing a party’s rally at Bundi in Hadoti region.

“Now the time has come to change the country. Two kinds of India have been created. India of billionaires. On the other hand, when a farmer talks about loan waiver, he is given two sticks in the BJP’s state and is sent inside the jail. If a small shopkeeper asks for a loan, he is sent away,” he said.

“If we do not know in this country how many are poor and how many are rich, then what is the meaning of sloganeering like Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Therefore, this country has to do revolutionary work. We will have to conduct a caste census. The backward population in the country is about 50 per cent, but they have no role in running the show,” said Gandhi.

Reminding Modi’s statement that he belongs to the OBC community, Gandhi remarked: “Narendra Modi says there is only one caste in the country and that is the poor. When it comes to giving participation to OBCs and Dalits, the PM says that there are neither Dalits nor tribals in this country,” he said.

Talking about his questions he asked in Parliament, Gandhi told the public: “You will be shocked that out of 90 (top) officers, only three officers are OBCs. Their number should be 50 per cent, meaning there should be at least 45 OBC officers. The three OBC officers are also sitting in a corner. These are those 90 officers who distribute the budget of India. The officers who constitute 50 per cent of the population in the country take a decision of only Rs 5”.

Differentiating the poor and the rich in nine years of NDA rule at the Centre, he categorically said: “The Modi Government waived off loans worth Rs 14 lakh crore of Indian billionaires. There is not a single Dalit or tribal in it. Meaning, there is no one from 80 per cent of India’s population in it. He gave a gift of Rs 14 lakh crore to his friends and you people kept watching. Only 20-25 people were given this money. Dalits and tribals were deprived of their share in front of them and you did not even know.”

He further said: “Thus, we want to create one India. We do not want Adani’s India, Bharat Mata ki Jai’s India. We want an India in which backward people, Dalits and tribals are respected. Well, out of 90 officers, the backward class did not get 45, but they should get at least 25-30. Therefore, the Rajasthan Government has given 7 guarantees, but this is not Modi’s guarantee that Rs 15 lakh will be deposited in the bank account.”

Gandhi also recalled the lockdown during Covid-19 pandemic, alleging that the Modi Government got backward people, Dalits and tribals killed during Covid and asked the people to come out and show the light mobiles and do acts like ‘Thaali Bajao.”

He warned that if the BJP wins in Rajasthan assembly polls, it would stop all flagship schemes and seven guarantees offered by the Congress, and even they will stop OPS and free medical treatment to the people.