Khunti, Nov 9 (IANS): Condemning Congress’ politics of falsehood, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday accused the Grand Old Party of misleading people on the issue of caste census and asked why the party did not conduct such an exercise during the 50 years of its rule in the country.
Addressing an election rally in Khunti, the Defence Minister said in 2011 a caste and socio-economic census was conducted in the country and almost 46 lakh sub-castes, gotras and communities were counted.
“Those who conducted the survey, themselves decided against publishing the results due to the large number of castes,” he said, pointing that the then social welfare department had revealed that there were over 1,200 SC and 750 ST, 2,500 OBC communities in the country at that time.
Claiming that the Congress was playing a fraud on people in the name of caste census, Rajnath Singh asked party President Mallikarjun Kharge to stop fooling people and instead share his party’s blueprint for the welfare of the marginalised sections.
“My question to Khargeji is, how will you provide reservation to the lakhs of castes and which caste will get how much reservation?” asked the Defence Minister.
Accusing the Congress of spreading canards about the benefits of the caste census, Rajnath Singh called for a debate over how such a census would benefit the marginalised and the deprived sections.
“We also want the welfare of the people at the bottom of the social ladder, we want to eradicate poverty but what has the Congress done over the years? It has only made the nation poorer,” he said.
On the other hand, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned around the economy and made it the world’s fifth largest from its earlier position of 11th largest in 2014. “By 2027, our economy will become the third largest in the world,” he said.
He also attacked the Congress for amending the Constitution and spreading rumours that the statute was under threat under BJP rule.
Congress leaders need to answer why caste census was not conducted over the past five decades, said Rajnath Singh.
“They are fooling Jharkhand people. I want people to question Congress leaders about how many castes there are. How many reservations would be given to which caste,” he said.
The Defence Minister also lambasted the Jharkhand government of JMM-Congress-RJD over corruption. “The Chief Minister was arrested for corruption. The BJP has also given two Chief Ministers in Jharkhand but there were no allegations of corruption against them.”
He also targeted Congress, JMM and RJD over infiltration into the state, seeking answers on why the tribal population in the state has come down from 52 per cent to 28 per cent.
Tribal community and its heritage are under threat due to infiltration, he said.
Voting in Jharkhand will be held in two phases on November 12 and November 20 to pick a new 81-member Assembly. The results will be declared on November 23.
Rajnath Singh promised that the new BJP government would enact a law to reclaim land usurped from tribals and cases filed against tribals by the forest department will also be reviewed.
Sharing BJP’s poll promises, he said cooking gas cylinders will be provided for Rs 500 each, instead of Rs 1,200 each, along with two free LPG cylinders in a year.
He also said that the BJP government will generate five lakh self-employment opportunities in the next five months and fill 2.27 lakh vacancies in a transparent manner.
He also announced a Rs 2,000 monthly financial assistance for graduates and undergraduates for two years so that they can hone their skills for jobs.
The Defence Minister guaranteed free education for girls and promised that the new government would also open new colleges.
He also announced that the new BJP government would raise the MSP of paddy from Rs 2,400 per quintal to Rs 3,100 per quintal, apart from raising the pension for widows and the disabled to Rs 2,500 per month.