INDIA bloc will protect Constitution at all costs, remove 50 pc cap on reservation: Rahul

Bansgaon (UP), May 28 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that an INDIA bloc government will end the 50 per cent cap on reservation while asserting that the alliance will protect the Constitution with "dil, jaan aur khoon".

Addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh's Bansgaon with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Gandhi said, "These elections are a battle of ideologies. There is INDIA bloc and the Constitution on one side and those who want to finish the Constitution on the other." Holding up a copy of the Constitution and a photograph of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Gandhi said Ambedkar dedicated his life to the Constitution.

"Dalits faced atrocities for years. In our Constitution, they were given honour. But now, the BJP says that it will tear apart Ambedkar's work. No force can dare to tear the Constitution of Dr Ambedkar and (Jawaharlal) Nehru," the former Congress president said.

The INDIA bloc will protect the Constitution with "dil, jaan aur khoon (heart, life and blood)", he said and added that the alliance will end the 50 per cent cap on reservation while also increasing it.

"We did this wherever we ran the government -- be it in Chhattisgarh or Madhya Pradesh. We will do this in the entire country," he said.

On the Agnipath scheme, Gandhi said the INDIA bloc, once it assumes power, will tear apart the scheme and throw it in the dustbin.

"Modi ji has turned soldiers into labourers. The Centre has made two categories in the army -- Agniveer and others. If an Agniveer gets injured or is martyred, he will neither get a martyr status nor compensation," Gandhi claimed.

"Why this discrimination?" he asked.

Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who calls himself a true patriot, insulted jawans by implementing the the scheme.

The government rolled out the Agnipath recruitment scheme in June 2022 for short-term induction of personnel with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three armed services. It provides for recruiting youngsters between the age bracket of 17-and-half years and 21 for four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years.

Gandhi also mocked the prime minister over his "sent by God" comment and said God sent Modi to help Adani and not the poor.

He asserted that the INDIA bloc will "jumpstart" the country's economy once it assumes power at the Centre.

The Congress leader also made a remark on President Droupadi Murmu's absence from the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

He claimed, "The president of India, who is a tribal, is told that you should not come. Your face should not be seen." "At the inauguration, not a single backward, Dalit, labourer or farmer was seen but there was a list of Adani-Ambani. Whatever he does, he does it for Adani and Ambani. Now we have to work for the poor," Gandhi said.

He alleged that Modi has created 22 billionaires while the INDIA bloc, when it assumes power, will create "crores of lakhpatis".

Gandhi also accused the prime minister of waiving loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore of his "billionaire friends" and said the country will never forgive Modi for this.

The former Congress president alleged that Modi snatched money from the poor and gave it to corporates, who invested that in foreign countries.

"These elections are to save the country, Constitution, democracy and reservations for the poor," he said.

The Congress leader also claimed that if the INDIA bloc forms the government, it will reopen all industries that are shut and fill 30 lakh job vacancies, and conduct caste and economic surveys.

"From July, Rs 8,500 will be deposited in the accounts of women from BPL (below poverty level) households every month ... This will change their financial condition. Initially, we will give you Rs 1 lakh annually, later we may increase it to Rs 2 lakh," he said.

Gandhi also promised providing a minimum support price for crops, wages of Rs 400 per day under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme.

In these elections, the Congress' "panja (hand)" election symbol has grabbed the handle of the Samajwadi Party's "cycle" symbol and the INDIA bloc will make a clean sweep in Uttar Pradesh, he asserted.

Earlier, Samajwadi Party chief Yadav told the gathering that "roti, kapda aur makan, lekin sabse pehle bachana hai samvidhan (but we have to save the Constitution first)".

These elections are for the future of "our generations", Yadav said.

Claiming that the people are fed up with the false promises of the past 10 years, Yadav said the BJP has lost its confidence and that is palpable in the speeches of its leaders.

More that a lakh farmers have committed suicide in the country after the BJP formed its government at the Centre, he alleged. PTI