Pune, May 3 (IANS): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Maharashtra has the capacity to change the country's future as it is steeped in the party's ideological culture of making sacrifices, and taking all sections along the path to progress, here on Friday.
"Whenever I come to Maharashtra, I feel very happy… it is a state soaked in the blood of the freedom fighters, the teachings of its great icons and idols. I am seeing an army of 'tigers' here. The people of this state are like the backbone of the Congress. They are progressive and can give a new direction to the country," said Rahul Gandhi.
Addressing a massive election rally for the INDIA-Maha Vikas Aghadi candidates here, he slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party and RSS for their plans to change the Constitution, and warned that
"if this happens, then you won't recognise India".
The Congress is committed to protect the Constitution given by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, which gives rights to all the people of the country, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to snatch the rights of the masses, said Rahul Gandhi.
Dwelling on how 90 per cent of the masses are deprived of any stake in the country's government and power structure, corporates, judiciary, media and other sectors, Rahul Gandhi said that once the INDIA government comes to power, "we will change all this at one stroke". "The country comprises 15 per cent Dalit population, 8 per cent tribals, 50 per cent OBCs, plus the minorities, which make up nearly 90 per cent of the people in the country. But they have almost no representation anywhere and are mostly reduced to doing physical labour or menial jobs," Rahul Gandhi said.
"When our government comes to power, we shall scrap this 'artificial ceiling' of 50 per cent quotas to enable even Marathas and Dhangars get justice and throw jobs in the government open for the people from the deprived sections, the poor and the deserving," said Rahul Gandhi. Citing several studies done by the Congress, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is working only for the top affluent classes in the country and has ignored the remaining 90 per cent of the population.
He pointed out that just 22 people hold the wealth equivalent to 70 crore Indians, only one per cent of the population holds 40 per cent of India's wealth and resources, and the BJP government only works for the rich people.
"After coming to power, we shall conduct a Caste Census, an economic survey of each section of society, we shall ascertain their representation in government, corporates, higher education, private medical sector, media, etc to give them their due. It would be a revolutionary measure and everything will come out in the open. This shall awaken the country and a new era of politics will begin," Rahul Gandhi said.
He reiterated that he would remove the Agniveer Scheme for the armed forces, scrap the GST in the present form and introduce a single-slab low tax GST in the country, and other far-reaching measures.
The Congress leader recalled how, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, many youth met and lamented that they were rendered jobless by the BJP regime, but when they asked the PM for jobs, he told them to 'sell pakoras'.
"We are making a list of all the families pushed into poverty during the BJP rule… we shall select one woman from each of these families and provide her with Rs 1 lakh per annum, directly into her bank accounts. This will help the entire family as she looks after all at home," he added.
Rahul Gandhi also assured the jobless youth that the new INDIA bloc government would enact a law guaranteeing all educated youngsters a job for minimum one year to give them start, plus deposit Rs 1 lakh a year into their bank accounts.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi was accorded a warm and traditional Marathi style welcome with a 'Puneri feta' (headgear), a shawl, and a statuette of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.