Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that his party is with backward communities in their fight for power in proportion to their population and again called for conducting a caste census at the earliest.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said this during a meeting with members of the Vishwakarma community at his residence here earlier this week.
In a video shared by him on Thursday, Gandhi is heard saying that the Congress would strive to help the OBCs and the extremely backwards get respect in north India and Bihar.
"My aim is to hand over the Congress party's command in the hands of OBCs, Dalits, tribals. This is your weapon," he told the Vishwakarma community leaders.
"...when I see injustice being done to backwards and very backward communities, I don't like it. My endeavour is that in Bihar and north India, the extremely backwards should get respect and their history should be respected. I want to strengthen the original roots of extremely backward community, which the BJP-RSS is trying to weaken," he said.
Gandhi pointed out during the meeting that people of the community were not there in the bureaucracy, media, corporate India, higher judiciary or among the generals in the armed forces.
"The solution to your problems is caste census and the day it is done, your community will realise that they do not have a share according to their population.
"The big question is how you will enter the country's power system. Merely having some MLAs from your community is not enough. You are fighting for representation and not for power. You should fight for power," the Congress leader said.
Sharing the video of the meeting on his WhatsApp channel, Gandhi said lack of representation, loss of traditional employment, humiliation and contempt, and a large population of the country being away from the mainstream were their main complaints.
Giving the example of Congress' freedom struggle for complete independence, the Congress leader said he explained to them that mere representation is not enough - "a united strong voice is also necessary".
"The first and most important step in this direction is 'caste census' - the tool that will bring out the real situation of the society. This will expose the ground reality and policies will be made on that basis, which will ensure their representation, participation and stake."
"At the same time, I assured them that the Congress party is with them in this fight. Their representation will start from within the party. We have done this at the district level in Gujarat and will continue to do it state by state in the future," Gandhi said.
"When such leaders emerge from their society and those get the cooperation and support of their community, only then this chain of change will begin," he said.
Reiterating his resolve to always support the backward society and its skilled people in their fight, the Congress leader gave them the courage to move forward in this journey of respect and equality.
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