Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that “only maharajas enjoyed rights” before Independence have evoked a sharp response from Bharatiya Janata Party MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, who accused the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha of harbouring narrow thinking and understanding.
Addressing a rally in Mhow district of Madhya Pradesh on Monday, Gandhi had said that Dalits, backwards and tribals had no rights until Independence. “The BJP-RSS wants an India of pre-Independence, where common people had no rights and only the likes of Adani and Ambani had rights. They want the poor to suffer in silence and not dream while the country is run by billionaires,” the Rae Bareli MP said.
Attacking Gandhi for his remarks, Scindia said it was in fact the Congress that gave birth to the dictatorial ideology and worked to attack the rights of the Dalits, deprived and backward classes.
“What Rahul Gandhi, who considers the Constitution as his pocket diary, has said about the role of royal families in pre-Independence India shows his narrow thinking and lack of understanding,” Scindia said in a series of posts on X.
“In his hunger for power and position, he has forgotten that these royal families had laid the foundation of equality and inclusive development in India years ago,” Scindia said.
{{/usCountry}}“In his hunger for power and position, he has forgotten that these royal families had laid the foundation of equality and inclusive development in India years ago,” Scindia said.
{{/usCountry}}“He has forgotten that: Baroda Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad had provided financial assistance to our Constitution maker Baba Saheb Ambedkar to get education. Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj had laid the foundation of social justice in 1902 by giving 50 percent reservation to the Bahujans of the country in his governance for the first time,” Scindia, who had quit the Congress to join the BJP in 2020, said.
“Rahul Gandhi, first read history, then make statements!” he added.