NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday slammed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and claimed that not a single Dalit, tribal, or backward class person will be in a photograph with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman ahead of the Union Budget.
While addressing a rally in Delhi, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha said, “Tomorrow you will see that the finance minister will go with a briefcase. A photo will come. You will not see a single Dalit, a tribal, a backward class person, or a minority in the photo. There are 90 officers who will prepare the budget tomorrow.”
“Out of 90, 3 officers are from OBC. Your population is 50 per cent and tomorrow if 100 rupees are distributed in the budget, then your officers will take a decision of only 5 rupees,” he added.
This comes a day after Rahul admitted that Congress did not protect the interests of Dalits and the backwards the way it should have after the 1990s.
Gandhi had said if the party had retained the confidence of the marginalised communities, RSS would have never been able to “come to power”.
“I have to say in the past 10-15 years what Congress should have done it did not do. If Congress maintained confidence of Dalits, backward classes and most backward, RSS would have never been able to come to power,” Rahul said, while addressing a meet of Dalit influencers under the banner of the ‘Vanchit Samaj: Dasha aur Disha’ programme in poll-bound Delhi.
The Delhi assembly elections will take place in a single phase on February 5, with the vote counting scheduled for February 8.