Instead of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', Modi should say 'Adani ji ki Jai': Rahul

Bundi/Dausa: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Narendra Modi of working for billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani and said instead of chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', the prime minister should say "Adani ji ki Jai". Addressing election rallies in Bundi and Dausa districts, Gandhi alleged that Modi wants to make two 'Hindustans', one for Adani and the other for the poor. He also targeted Modi for not conducting a caste census in the country and said it will be the first thing that the Congress will get done after it comes to power at the Centre. Speaking at the rally in Bundi, Gandhi said, "Instead of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', the prime minister should say 'Adani ji Ki Jai' because he works for him." "Modi says Bharat Mata ki Jai and works 24 hours for Adani," he said.

The poor, farmers and labourers are 'Bharat Mata', the Congress leader said. He said the prime minister wants to make two 'Hindustans' -- one for Adani and the other for the poor. The Congress has been targeting the Adani Group, accusing it of benefitting from the BJP government, and has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into allegations of "stock price manipulation" and financial irregularities against the Adani Group made by US research firm Hindenburg. The Adani Group has denied any wrongdoing. On the caste census, Gandhi asserted Modi will not conduct one, no matter what. "Rahul Gandhi and the Congress can do it," he said. "We have ordered a caste census in Rajasthan. As soon as the (Congress) government comes to power in Delhi, our first task will be (to order) a cast census. Your true involvement will begin then. Mother India will be victorious then," he added.

The Congress leader asked whether any big industrialist in the country is an OBC, Dalit or tribal and said he would stop giving speeches if there is one. If the BJP comes to power in Rajasthan, all public welfare schemes initiated by the Gehlot government will be discontinued, Gandhi said. In Dausa, Gandhi said Modi used to say in his public addresses that he is an OBC but as soon as he demanded a caste census in Parliament, the prime minister started saying something different. "The day I said Modi ji, do one thing, tell the world how many OBCs are there in the country, he started giving a new speech.

He said there is no caste in the country and only the poor are there," he said. "There is no caste but you are an OBC," Gandhi quipped. "You bought an airplane worth Rs 12,000 crore, you change clothes thrice a day and travel in a car worth Rs 12 crore. But when the youth, whether OBC, Dalit or Adivasi, say that we have to know our population, you say there is no caste," he said. Gandhi said he interacted with thousands of youths during his Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and they told him that they want to become IAS officers. He claimed that Modi is running the country with 90 IAS officers and only three of them are OBCs. "Your population is around 50 per cent but representation is only three among 90 officers," he said. Therefore, the caste census is the most important for the country, he added. Gandhi also criticised Modi for calling tribals 'vanvasi'.

The Congress calls them 'adivasis', who have the first right over land. On the other hand, a 'vanvasi' is someone who lives in a forest. Gandhi said a BJP leader urinated on a tribal man in Madhya Pradesh, which reflects the mentality of the party's people. While the Congress did not give a ticket to a leader who thrashed a Dalit, the BJP welcomed him and gave him a ticket, he said. Gandhi was referring to Girraj Malinga, sitting Congress MLA from Dholpur's Bari seat, who was denied a ticket by the party. Malinga allegedly assaulted two engineers of the Rajasthan electricity department, one of whom is a Dalit, last year. He joined the BJP in Jaipur early this month and was fielded by the party from Bari