Breach 50% Caste Reservation, Make Caste Census Public, First Cabinet to Fulfil 4 Promises: RaGa in Kolar

The Congress seemed to be in high spirits for its first big rally by senior leader Rahul Gandhi in Kolar for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka. The party was buoyed by a massive crowd and after welcoming two senior BJP leaders, Jagdish Shettar and Laxman Savadi, from the Lingayat community.

Gandhi’s recent meeting with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav also reflected in his speech: he demanded the 2011 caste census to be made public and asked the state government to breach the 50 percent reservation cap fixed by the Supreme Court.

The former Congress president did this to counter the charge that he had humiliated the OBCs (other backward class) in his 2019 speech at the same venue, for which he was convicted in a criminal defamation case and disqualified from the Lok Sabha. He argued that the biggest humiliation for the OBCs was that the BJP government at the centre had not made the 2011 caste census public, which determined how many OBCs, SCs (scheduled caste) and STs (scheduled tribe) exist in India.

Incidentally, it was the UPA government (till 2014) that decided not to make the 2011 caste census public, citing inaccuracies. Gandhi, however, said reservation should be in proportion to a community’s population.

He started his speech focusing on the four big Congress promises in the elections and raised the 40 percent corruption charge against the Basavaraj Bommai-led government – these local issues are working for the Congress and received much applause from the crowd.

But he then moved on to his allegations against businessman Gautam Adani and raised questions about his relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi – an issue that feeds into the national debate, a direction that the BJP also wants to take for the Karnataka elections.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, meanwhile, said the chief ministerial face will be decided after the elections and the party cadre should not be bothered about it. Gandhi said he was happy that the state leadership was fighting in unison. Former CM Siddaramaiah and state president DK Shivkumar were both on stage while there was some sloganeering in Siddaramaiah’s favour after he was denied Kolar as a second seat to contest the elections.

Local versus national

Gandhi got the loudest applause when he spoke of the four promises the Congress has made for the people and said they will be fulfilled in the first cabinet meeting if the party comes to power.

“In a few days, the Congress will form the government in Karnataka. We have made four promises: 200 units of free power, Rs 2,000 per month to women, 10 kg rice to each family member every month and Rs 3,000 to every graduate as well as Rs 1,500 every month to diploma holders,” he said, holding up four fingers to say the BJP only did 40 percent commission in the state.

But he quickly slipped into the Adani issue and spoke at length about how the central government was helping the businessman corner all infrastructure projects.

“You (PM Narendra Modi) helped Adani with all your heart, we will help the poor, youth and women with all our heart,” he said. He went on to talk about how he was not allowed to speak on the Adani issue in parliament after his initial speech.

“What I ask the PM is – what is your relation with Adani and who has invested in Adani’s shell companies?” he said, but these parts of the speech did not seem to resonate with the crowd.

Gandhi said for the first time, the Centre did not let parliament run. “They don’t want me to speak about Adani in parliament. So they disqualified me and they feel they will be able to threaten and scare me. I’m not scared of them. Put me in jail, it does not matter,” he said, adding that the Congress must win with a full majority. “Or they will try to steal your government. So we must win 150 seats.”

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