Amid Rahul Gandhi’s caste message in US, Amit Shah hits back: ‘lays bare Congress politics of causing rifts’

“By speaking about abolishing quota, Rahul Gandhi once again brought Congress’ anti-reservation face to the forefront,” Shah added.

The Home Minister’s remarks comes after Rahul Tuesday said that the Congress party will “think of ending reservation when India is a fair place”, adding that India was not a fair place at the moment. He was addressing the Indian diaspora in Washington DC.

In another interaction on Wednesday at the National Press Club, Rahul clarified that he was misquoted by some people that he was against reservation. “Let me make it clear – I am not against reservation. We will take reservation beyond the limit of 50 per cent,” Rahul said.

“We feel there’s a very deep problem of participation, and we are going to address that problem. I don’t see it as a mandal vs kamandal issue. What we are saying is different than the idea of only reservations. What we are saying is we want a comprehensive understanding first of what’s going on and then we are going to apply a series of policies to correct it, reservation being one of them,” Rahul added.

This comes amid a continuous push by Rahul and other Opposition leaders for a caste census in the country.

Criticising Rahul for his statements, Shah Wednesday posted on X, “Rahul’s statement lays bare Congress’ politics of causing rifts on lines of regionalism, religion and linguistic differences. Whether it’s supporting NC’s anti-national agenda in J-K or making anti-India comments abroad, Rahul has threatened nation’s security.”

Standing with forces that conspire to divide the country and making anti-national statements have become a habit for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. Whether it is supporting the JKNC's anti-national and anti-reservation agenda in J&K or making anti-India statements on…

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) September 11, 2024

“Standing with forces that conspire to divide India and making anti-national statements have become a habit for Rahul Gandhi, Congress,” said Shah.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said earlier in the US he was not interested in living in a country “where 90% of the people do not have access to opportunity”. He added, “The BJP and the RSS do say that don’t ask this question and let a small minority of people just take all the fruits of the country. That is the fight.” On the policy implications of a caste census, including an increase in reservation, Gandhi said it “would depend on what comes out of these studies”.