New Delhi, Apr 24: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said those who call themselves “deshbhakt” are scared of the ‘X-ray' of caste census but no force can stop it and his life mission is to secure justice for 90 per cent of population, as he hit back at the BJP amid the row on the issue of wealth redistribution.
Addressing the ‘Samajik Nyay Sammelan' here, Gandhi said he was targeted by the BJP and the prime minister for just talking about finding how much injustice had been done to 90 per cent of the population.
“I am not interested in caste but in ‘nyay' (justice). I am saying that gross injustice is being done to 90 per cent of the population. I have not even said till date that we will take any action on that.
“I just said let us find out how much injustice is being done. There should be no objection to that. If you get injured and I say that get an X-ray done, no one should object to that,” the Congress leader said.
The former Congress asserted that it is his life mission to ensure justice for the 90 per cent of the population against whom injustice has been done.
“As soon as our government is formed, the first thing that would be done is a caste census,” Gandhi said.
From the Rs 16 lakh crore transferred by Modi to select business people, the Congress is going to return a small amount to 90 per cent of the population, he said.
“We have calculated…what we felt is justice and that help should be given, we put it down in the manifesto,” he said of the party's guarantees mentioned in the manifesto.
“Understand this is not a politics issue for me. This is my life mission,” he said, adding, “I guarantee…no force can stop caste census. The more it is stopped, the more it will return with bigger force”.
There is a difference between life mission and politics as one can compromise in politics but not in life mission, he said.
He also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has panicked after seeing the Congress' “revolutionary manifesto” which talks about the ‘X-ray' and the income inequality created by Modi.
The BJP has alleged that the Congress will take people's wealth and redistribute it if it comes to power. On Wednesday, PM Modi and his party cited Congress leader Sam Pitroda's remarks on inheritance tax to claim that the Congress wants to legally rob people of their assets and lifelong savings they want to bequeath to their children.
The Congress has maintained that its manifesto speaks of social economic caste census and not about “redistribution” of wealth.
Taking a swipe at the media for dubbing him a “non-serious” politician in the past, Gandhi cited his involvement with the MGNREGA scheme, the Land Acquisition Bill, the Bhatta Parsaul movement, Niyamgiri Hills matter, and said for the media all this was “non-serious while talking about Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Virat Kohli was serious”.
