Just hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused Congress MP Rahul Gandhi of conspiring to end reservations for socially backward classes in the country, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde repeated the claim and said that Mahayuti, the alliance that is currently in power in Maharashtra, will not allow scrapping of the reservation regime.
Accusing Gandhi of maligning India's image whenever he goes abroad, Shinde alleged that the Congress MP has a 'pro-West' mentality. He claimed that with his latest US-visit, Rahul Gandhi laid bare the true face of the Congress.
In a post made on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in Marathi, Shinde said that it was unbecoming of a public leader like Rahul Gandhi to badmouth the country and saying it was not a 'fair place'. Protesting such use of words, CM Shinde said when Indians have raised stature of the country in the world by exemplary performance in the field of Information Technology, Gandhi with his words has insulted all of them.
What had Rahul Gandhi say previously?
Rahul Gandhi was interacting with students of Georgetown University. He was making a case about caste census and lower participation from backward classes in running of the country when he spoke about the reservation regime.
"If you look at the Indian government, there are 70 bureaucrats who run the Indian government, secretaries to the government of India. These are the people who make almost all the financial decisions...Out of 70 people there is one tribal, three Dalits, three OBCs and a minority. 90 per cent of India in the government of India has access to less than 10 per cent of the positions that determine how money is going to be spent. When you look at the financial numbers, then Tribals get 10 paise out of Rs 100, Dalits get Rs 5 out of Rs 100, and OBCs get a similar amount," said Gandhi.
"There's an elephant in the room. When we talk about the capture of institutions, businesses, and the media, the elephant in the room is that 90% of India--OBCs, Dalits, Adivasis--aren't even part of the game. That's really the elephant in the room," he said.
About reservation, Gandhi said that scrapping of reservation can only be thought of after India becomes a 'fair place'. He immediately added that currently India was not a fair place, hinting that reservation was needed.
