E-Paper
‘Wants reservations at Miss India’: Kiren Rijiju's ‘bal buddhi’ swipe at Rahul Gandhi
Union minister Kiren Rijiju also accused Rahul Gandhi of stoking divisions in the country.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks about the lack of representation of women from Dalit, Tribal, or Other Backward Classes communities in the “Miss India pageant list".
"Now, he wants reservations at Miss India competitions, films, and sports! It is not only issue of "Bal Budhi", but people who cheer him are - equally responsible too!" Rijiu wrote on X in a swipe at the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The union minister also accused Gandhi of stoking divisions in the country with his renewed remarks regarding the nationwide caste census.
“Rahul Gandhi Ji can't divide our country. PM Narendra Modi ji made it clear that Supreme Court won't be allowed to alter reservations in IAS, IPS, IFS, all top services recruitment. But he can't see 1st Tribal President, OBC PM, Record Numbers of SC/ST Cabinet Ministers!” he wrote further.
He also told Gandhi that governments don't select candidates for Miss India, athletes for the Olympics, or actors for films.
What Rahul Gandhi said
On Saturday, Gandhi, while reiterating his call for a caste census, claimed that there had been no women belonging to the Dalit, tribal or OBC communities on the list of Miss India winners.
He had also claimed that top anchors in the media industry aren't from these communities.
Also Read | ‘90% people sitting out of system’: Rahul Gandhi's fresh caste census demand
“I have checked the list of Miss India, which did not have any Dalit, Adivasi (tribal) or OBC women. Some will talk about cricket or Bollywood. No one will show the cobbler or plumber. Even top anchors in the media are not from the 90 per cent…We want to know how many in institutions, corporates, Bollywood, Miss India are from the 90 per cent. I am only saying that 90 per cent did not have ‘bhagidari’ (participants) and this should be checked,” Gandhi said during a ‘Samvidhan Samman Sammelan’ in Uttar Pradesh.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre, the Congress leader questioned, “They will say Modiji embraced someone, and we have become a superpower. How have we become a superpower when 90 per cent of people have no participation?”
Also Read | 'What's wrong in asking about Rahul Gandhi's caste': Kiren Rijiju
Gandhi pressed for a nationwide caste census, saying it was not for “any political reasons” but to “include the 90 per cent of India's poor in the mainstream”.
