E-Paper
‘You may have forgotten…’: Congress hits back at Jyotiraditya Scindia over Rahul Gandhi's ‘maharajas’ remark
Jyotiraditya Scindia had said that Rahul Gandhi needed to read history after Gandhi said only “maharajas and rajas enjoyed rights” pre-Independence
The Congress party on Tuesday hit back at Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s criticism of Rahul Gandhi’s “only maharajas enjoyed rights” remark, saying Scindia may have forgotten the royal families' allegiance to the British, but they cannot.
On Monday, Scindia had issued a sharp response saying, “Rahul Gandhi, first read history, then make statements!” after Gandhi said during a rally in Mhow, that Dalit and tribal people did not have any rights before independence, and that only “maharajas and rajas enjoyed rights” at that time, reported ANI.
Also Read: BJP demands apology from Rahul Gandhi for post on Netaji’s date of demise
Hitting back at Scindia, Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said on Tuesday, “History points its finger at you and cries your highness. If the 26th amendment of the Constitution had not been made, even today the Government of India would have been giving crores of rupees tax free to the Gwalior royal family (25,00,000 in 1950).”
Also Read: Delhi poll: AAP's new campaign poster features Rahul Gandhi in ‘dishonest’ list
Khera also said that just because a few kings were good did not cover up the misdeeds of many royal families. He also said that it was royal family's pistol that was used to the assassinate Mahatma Gandhi.
In a post on X, Khera said, “You kept taking this price for merging into India, till 1971. You may have forgotten the treachery of the royal families and their love for the British, but we all cannot forget.”
Khera also quoted former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's in the Constituent Assembly on January 22, 1947.
Also Read: Jyotiraditya Scindia flays LoP’s ‘fighting Indian state’ remarks
“It is extremely heinous for any person, no matter how high his status is, to say that I have come to rule over mankind by God-given privilege. This idea is intolerable and this assembly will never accept it,” Nehru was quoted as saying.
He also quoted a famous poem by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan on the Rani of Jhansi that referred to Scindias as friends of the British.
‘Only maharajas had rights’
During a rally in Mhow, Rahul Gandhi said that change in the country was only brought about due to Independence and that the BJP and RSS were trying to go back to a previous era when common people had no rights and only the rich, such as Adani and Ambani did.
"They want the poor to suffer in silence and not dream while the country is run by billionaires," he said in his speech.
In a post on X, Scindia stated that Gandhi was driven by power and claimed that royal families had built a foundation of equality and inclusivity in India.
“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,” he said.
He further attacked the Congress saying that they were responsible for a dictatorial ideology and had denied Dalits, deprived and backward classes, their rights.
