OBC, Dalit, tribal are 73% but own none of top 200 firms in India: Rahul

Prayagraj (UP), Feb 18 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Sunday said the OBC, Dalit and tribal constitute 73 per cent of the population but not even one of the top 200 companies in India is owned by them.

Addressing a gathering during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra here, he said a caste census is an X-ray of the country which would "reveal everything".

"Caste census is your (youth's) weapon and you have to find out what is your population," he told the gathering as he came of the Swaraj Bhawan, at Lakshmi Talkies intersection near Allahabad University. "Secondly, you have to find out what is your share in the country's wealth." "How much wealth do the 73 per cent castes have in this country? Caste census is the X-ray of the country. This will reveal everything," he said.

Gandhi called a student from the crowd to his vehicle and asked him, "Which class do you belong to?" The student replied that he was from the OBC category. On this, Gandhi said, "The OBC class in the country is 50 per cent, Dalits are 15 per cent and tribals are eight percent." "Youths like you have no future in this country. Your (OBC, Dalit, Tribal) population is 73 percent, but not even one of the top 200 companies in India is owned by an OBC or Dalit. Only three people are from your category are in the list of 90 top IAS officers of the country. You don't have a single person in the media." Gandhi also alleged that not a single person from the OBC or tribal category at the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration ceremony on January 22.

During the public meeting, many students stood holding placards against exam paper leak. "This (paper leak) is a way to stop you from moving forward," the former Congress president told them.

Accusing the government of writing off loans of big industrialists, Gandhi said the BJP never waived off farmers' loans.

Loans worth Rs 14-lakh crore of 10-15 industrialists have been waived off, he claimed. "Industrialists ask for bank loans worth lakhs of crores of rupees and they get the loan within seconds, but Dalits and backward people are chased away from the banks." Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said Gandhi reached the Swaraj Bhawan directly from the Prayagraj airport. He met Congress workers there before taking out the Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra.

The yatra will go to Mauaima via Teliarganj, Phaphamau and Holagarh where the yatra will halt.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, State Congress President Ajay Rai and former MLA Anugrah Narayan Singh were present during the yatra as it got underway in an open jeep at 4 pm. PTI