You chant Jai Shri Ram 24 hours but you are being looted everyday by rich businessmen: Rahul

While addressing the crowd, Rahul asked a colliery worker and a former Army jawan from the crowd to sit next to him in the SUV.

“Did you see anyone poor during the Ram Mandir inauguration? You saw Amitabh ji (Bachchan), Aishwarya Rai ji (Bachchan), Adani ji, Ambani ji, and all businessmen. Poor, labourer, unemployed, farmer were not seen. Only billionaires were present,” he said.

The Congress MP reiterated his party’s demand for a caste census and said it will be done with the people’s support. The backward classes, Dalits and Adivasis (tribals) comprise 74 per cent of the country’s population, but not a single person from these communities is the owner or in the management of India’s top 200 companies which are being given “all the money of the country”, he claimed.

“Are you sleeping? Have you accepted defeat. You chant Jai Shri Ram for 24 hours….That is all okay but you are being looted everyday. You are dying hungry. Like money is minted in Kuwait by selling oil, these people are minting your money,” Rahul said.

When Rahul handed over the microphone to the coal miner who was seated next to him, the worker said, “My son has done BTech but he is not getting job. I spent Rs 5 lakh on his studies but Modi is asking us to sell pakodas.”

Passing through Korba, known for mining, Rahul said Coal India belongs to people but “it was being strangled by the government”.

“The government doesn’t own Coal India, you people own it. The government is strangling Coal India and in the future it will say it’s not economically viable and give it to Adani. People like this coal-mine worker will be given voluntary retirement. He spent a lot of money in private hospitals for treatment of his family members and paid hefty fees to get his son educated but if tomorrow his children want loans to do a business, they will not get it,” Rahul said.

Before leaving Korba, Rahul met the Bunkar (weavers’) association in Churi Kala village in Korba district where the silk saree making business is witnessing a decline.

Yeshwant Dewangan, a textile engineer, who briefed Rahul about the issues the community is facing told The Indian Express, “We are from the weavers’ community and we are in the business of making silk sarees for five generations but we are not able to make money, as there is a huge gap between manufacturers like us and buyers because of which our business is on the decline. Moreover, technology is bleeding us. At present, a weaver makes around Rs 300 per day but he can earn double the amount.”

“Rahul ji asked us how our work is done and suggested we adopt the Japanese technology so that we can keep our designs and quality up to the market standard. We said focus on cooperative sector and new schemes for us is needed. He did not promise anything but it felt good to meet him and share our issues,” said Dewangan.

Rahul also met a group of 16 villagers from Hasdeo protesting against the mining activities.

Umeshwar Singh from the Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsha Samiti said, “We told him about our protest and he said he and his team will support our movement. Our demand is to cancel the fake Gram Sabha resolution and stop the ongoing mining. We want the entire Hasdeo forest to be protected. We trust Rahul ji. He does what he says but I cannot say the same about his team.”