All India Congress Committee chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) invited actresses to the New parliament Building, but missed out on calling President of India Droupadi Murmu, touting the act as an insult to the first citizen of India. Kharge took the jibe at the saffron party at a gathering in poll bound Rajasthan.
“This is an insult to the president,” Kharge said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was referring to the incident where Thank You For Coming movie actors Shehnaaz Gill, Bhumi Pednekar, Shibani Bedi, Dolly Singh visit the new Parliament with union minister Anurag Thakur.
Kharge further accused the BJP of practicing casteism, “Then President Ram Nath Kovind not invited to foundation laying of new Parliament building as he is ‘untouchable'”.
“If the foundation laying was done by an untouchable, then naturally it would have to be washed with Ganga water,” he said, referring to the former president’s caste.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also joined in on the allegations of casteism and advocated conducting a caste census and asked why was Prime Minister Narendra Modi “afraid” of it.
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During his speech, Kharge also alleged misuse of central probe agencies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP. Kharge alleged Prime Minister Modi pitches four candidates against the Congress – one each of BJP, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Each Congress candidate has to fight 4 pitched by PM Modi – 1 of BJP, ED, I-T, CBI”.
The Congress President also questioned the Narendra Modi government’s intention behind bringing the women’s reservation bill, saying the BJP does not want to give reservation to women.
He said the BJP thought of the women’s reservation bill just ahead of elections as several opposition parties have formed the INDIA bloc.
“When Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and I together came up with the idea of INDIA, the women’s bill came to their mind,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi also said, “Prime minister, please tell India in your next speech that the Congress had conducted the caste census. You have the figures. Show it to the people of India. And you should conduct the next census on the basis of caste. Do not insult the OBCs. Do not cheat the OBCs,” Gandhi said.
He said, “As soon as I started raising the issue of caste census in Parliament, BJP MPs tried to suppress my voice.”
Gandhi said there is a fight of ideology going on between the BJP and the Congress in the country. “If you ask BJP workers about the relationship between Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they will run away,” the Congress leader told his party workers.
He said the BJP wants women’s reservation to be implemented in 10 years, but “we want it today and OBCs included in it”.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the new building of Pradesh Congress Committee in Jaipur and unveiled a plaque, party leader said.
The Congress office, a four-storey structure, will be built in the Mansarover area of the city, said PCC Chief Govind Singh Dotasra.
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Updated: 23 Sep 2023, 04:30 PM IST