Will scrap quota when India becomes a fair place: Rahul

Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, who is in the USA, on Monday evening (Tuesday morning here) talked about the Congress party’s commitment to conducting a caste census and said the party would all for the scrapping of reservations when “India is a fair place”.

“We will think of scrapping reservations when India is a fair place. And India is not a fair place right now,” Gandhi told students in response to a question on reservations and how long they would continue. “That way it is a problem…because there are many people who come from the upper castes who say, look what have we done wrong…why we are being punished…and so then you think of increasing dramatically the supply of some of these things, you think of decentralisation of power, you think of involving many more in the governance”, Rahul said.

Gandhi’s remarks on scrapping the quota system drew flak from different corners of the political spectrum. BSP supremo Mayawati slammed Gandhi for the remark, alleging that the Congress was conspiring to end reservations in India. It had become clear from Rahul’s remarks that the Congress had been conspiring to end reservations for years, Mayawati wrote on social media. The former UP CM added that while Congress never conducted a caste census when it was in power, it was now trying to win elections by promising one to people.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP-Ram Vilas)’s Chirag Paswan, an NDA ally, said Gandhi’s comment had exposed the Congress’ ideology. “Rahul Gandhi ji, let alone ending reservation, even thinking about it is a crime!” Paswan wrote on X.

The BJP also said that Rahul’s “inherent prejudice against reservations stood exposed in the US”. Former minister and BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said opposition to reservations was Rahul’s legacy and his claim of safeguarding the Constitution was a “lie, a fraud”.