The Congress today accused the RSS and BJP of “erasing” the history of the OBCs as it vowed not to cede the caste enumeration plank, around which it aspires to make Rahul Gandhi the country’s PM, to the ruling party.Rahul acknowledged that it was his “mistake” and not that of the party that they could not get a caste census conducted earlier, saying he was correcting that now. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha was addressing OBC supporters at “Bhagidari Nyay Sammelan” in the presence of party’s top leaders here.The massive push for the OBCs comes nearly three months after PM Narendra Modi-led government announced caste enumeration in the upcoming census.Party president Mallikarjun Kharge termed the RSS and BJP a “poison” — a taunt aimed at countering their ‘Hindutva’ politics. “The RSS-BJP is a poison. If you take it once, you will die. The wisdom lies in never to taste it,” said Kharge.Kharge targeted the PM claiming that he (Modi) only began supporting the idea of a caste census after realising that the OBCs were rising against the injustice meted out to them and might “seize his chair”.The party president added that he was unsure whether Modi would actually fulfil the promise. “According to the Constitution, there is 60 per cent reservation, but Modiji doesn’t want to give quota to those who are academically, socially and economically backward. He is not ready to give reservation to those who have no voice. We have to make him bow. We have to tell him with unity that we are no less,” he said.Kharge added: “Modiji’s only job is to tell lies, but I don’t understand why people are not agitated… He promised to provide two crore jobs, bring back black money and give Rs 15 lakh to everyone… everything was a lie. He even lied about giving MSP to farmers. He promised to increase the income of Backward Classes… it never happened. That is why I call PM Modi ‘jhoothon ke sardar’.”Rahul, in his address, said: “Your history has been erased by the RSS and BJP. When you will come to know about your history, you will realise that the RSS is your biggest enemy. It is Manuwadi.”Rahul acknowledged that he made a “mistake” that in his political career of 21 years, he couldn’t protect the interests of the OBCs as much as he should have.“I have been doing politics since 2004, it has been 21 years, and when I look back and do a self-analysis, where all I did the right thing and where I fell short… I can see clearly that in one thing I was lacking, I committed one mistake — I did not protect the OBC section the way I should have,” he added.
Caste census delay my mistake, admits Rahul
