Congress will conduct caste census in MP after winning Assembly polls: Mallikarjun Kharge

Kharge was addressing a public rally in Sagar in MP’s Bundelkhand region. Assembly polls are expected to be held in the BJP-ruled state at the end of the year.

Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday pledged a caste census in Madhya Pradesh once Congress forms the government in the state, as he listed promises ahead of Assembly elections later this year.

The Congress president’s announcement came at a public rally in Sagar in Bundelkhand region with a substantial Dalit population. He also tore into the ruling BJP for “suddenly remembering” Sant Ravidas, a Dalit saint, during election season though it demolished his temple in Delhi.

With state elections due in Madhya Pradesh later this year, Congress has started early with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressing rallies in Jabalpur of Mahakoshal region, a tribal stronghold, in June, and in Gwalior where OBCs and Dalits have substantial numbers last month.

The Bundelkhand region has 26 seats, of which the BJP won 15, while the Congress got nine and Samajwadi Party and BSP one each. Congress hopes to gain in the region with a targeted campaign by announcing to set up a university after Sant Ravidas and recalling Dr BR Ambedkar’s contributions.

He reminded that PM Modi, who recently laid the foundation stone for a Ravidas temple in Sagar, and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan remembered the Dalit saint only because of the election.

“But remember…in Delhi in 2019, a temple of Sant Ravidas ji was demolished by using bulldozers. These people do the work of 'Ram in the mouth, knife in the armpit',” he said.

In his address in MP’s Sagar, Kharge also sought to debunk Home Minister Amit Shah’s challenge to the Congress to put up its report card of 53 years when it ruled the state.

Referring to the Bhilai Steel Plant, Indira Sagar Dam, IIT and IIM in Indore, AIIMS Bhopal, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Rani Laxmibai Institute in Gwalior and Chambal Valley Project, “who made all these? This is our big achievement. We gave employment, education to people. You (people) give this whole report to Amit Shah ji.”

Reiterating the promises of gas cylinders at Rs 500, Rs 1,500 per month to women, free power for first 100 units free and halving the fare for next 100 units, loan waiver for farmers and a return to Old Pension Scheme, he said, “as Congress president, I am promising you that we will get the caste census done in Madhya Pradesh. Then we will come to know who is poor, who is backward, education level, who are landless etc.”

Claiming that people of Madhya Pradesh are “fed up” with BJP’s “corruption and misrule”. He said that Congress would write a “new story” of development by forming a people-friendly government.

Recalling Ambedkar, who was born in MP's Mhow, he said some people are trying to change the Constitution. "This is not possible because 140 crore people of the country are in support of the protection of the Constitution,” he said.

On Manipur, he said the Prime Minister has been silent for months despite continuing violence.

"Modi ji neither goes to Manipur, nor speaks anything about it in the Parliament. He only talks bad about Congress. But Congress party and Rahul Gandhi have shown how to work. I think that even in the dreams of Modi ji, Rahul ji comes," he said.