Cong gives call to 'oust BJP'; promises jobs, caste census if voted to power

Nagpur, Dec 28 (IANS) The Congress on Thursday launched its 2024 Lok Sabha elections campaign here with a call to 'teach a lesson' to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and also promised jobs to youth and a Caste Census when voted to power, here on Thursday.

Top party leaders including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and other seniors attended a mammoth 'Hai Taiyaar Hum' rally to mark the 139th foundation of the Congress, at the 'Bharat Jodo' Maidan here.

Setting an aggressive tone for the upcoming election year, Kharge said that democracy and the Constitution are under threat in India, even as inflation and unemployment have reached alarming proportions.

Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that though there are over 3.20 million vacancies in Central posts, the BJP government is not doing recruitments that could give the backward classes employment opportunities.

He also said the government has made a 'mockery of democracy' by suspending 146 Opposition MPs who raised relevant questions in Parliament, and blamed the Centre for saddling the country with a huge debt of Rs 200 lakh-crore, while slashing funds for development or welfare schemes to benefit the poor and backward communities.

"PM Modi has the time to travel around the world, but has no time to attend Parliament even when it is in session. The BJP cannot give the rights to the women, youth, the poor and backward communities. The people must teach a lesson to the BJP and PM Modi who do not support democracy. If they are not stopped, then the country will be ruined," Kharge said.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi demanded to know what happened to PM Modi's election promise of giving two crore jobs every year, and how many people actually got employment in the 10 years of BJP rule.

"The country has the highest unemployment rate in the last 40 years. Millions of youth are wasting their energies, farmers are in distress, but all the wealth of the country is being concentrated in the hands of a few corporate houses. Ever since PM Modi came to power, it has attempted to control all institutions like the Election Commission, the courts, the media and others," Rahul Gandhi said. Promising to conduct a caste-wise census after it comes to power, Gandhi lamented how the Dalits, OBCs and other backward classes get very less share in power and government and all other sectors.

"After we demanded a national Caste Census, the PM has changed his language by saying that 'the poor are the only caste' in the country. We will carry out a Caste Census which the BJP government cannot and it will usher in a major social change in Maharashtra and entire India," said Rahul Gandhi.

Others who addressed the rally included Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole, ex-CMs Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan, who appealed to the people to support the national Opposition INDIA bloc in the 2024 elections, and help save the democracy and Constitution which are in peril under the BJP which is indulging in dividing the people on caste-religious lines.

The massive rally was attended by top Congress leaders at the national level, from all other states in the country, MPs-MLAs, past and current state CMs, Deputy CMs, previous Central minister, and current and past state ministers, its Opposition leaders, leaders of the women, youth and student wings, party office-bearers from all over India, and thousands of activists and commoners.