Stressing that he has been consistently demanding that the 50% cap on reservation should be removed and a caste census conducted without delay, leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi said he has been misquoted that he is against reservation.
To a question at the National Press Club in Washington, the Congress MP said his team raised attacks on minorities in Bangladesh at a meeting with US lawmakers, adding it’s the responsibility of the Yunus govt to stop it soon.
Speaking about quotas, he said, “Somebody misquoted me, saying that I am against reservations... I have been saying again and again and again - we are going to increase reservations beyond 50%, and I am not against reservation.”
Asked if he views caste census as an antidote to Hindutva politics, Rahul said it is not a ‘Mandal vs kamandal’ issue, but a Congress idea to make India a fair country.
Rahul said, “What we are saying is different than the idea of only reservations. We want to have a comprehensive understanding... first of what’s going on, and then we are going to apply a series of policies to correct it... reservation being one of them.”
Rahul pushed back against the proposal that reservations should be on the economic criteria, arguing that caste is the fundamental issue in India and untouchability is beyond an economic idea. “I don’t think it’s only an economic idea. I think it’s discrimination on many, many different axes.”
He rebuffed the suggestion that US should exert pressure on PM Modi on the issues of “democratic backsliding, persecution of minorities, freedom of press”. He said, “The fight for democracy in India is an Indian fight. It has nothing to do with anybody else. It’s our problem and we will take care of it.” He said Indian democracy is fighting back, but was broken for the last 10 years when it was under attack.
Mocking the question that Modi has managed the China competition well, Gandhi said, “If you call having Chinese troops in 4,000 sq km of our territory as handling something well, then maybe. We have got Chinese troops occupying land the size of Delhi in Ladakh. I think that's a disaster. I don't think Modi has handled China well at all.” He said the opposition campaign forced Modi to touch the Constitution to his forehead in Parliament, but it’s a paradox that “he’s destroying the Constitution, attacking the democratic structure, and then the Indian people have forced him to put it on his head”.
Gandhi disagreed that the Kashmir issue is holding back Indo-Pak relations, arguing that Islamabad’s instigation of terrorism is the reason for the freeze in relations.
