Mahagathbandhan will work for uplift of Dalits, EBCs, women of Bihar: Rahul

Patna: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday asserted that the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar will work for the uplift of Dalits, women and economically backward classes (EBCs). Gandhi, while addressing the 'Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan' (Save the Constitution symposium) in Patna, said he was confident that the people of Bihar would show a new direction to India again this time as they have always done. Assembly polls are due in Bihar later this year. Asserting that the Congress would demolish the "fake barrier" of a 50 per cent cap on reservations after coming to power at the Centre, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha said that a caste census similar to the exercise conducted in Telangana, which is ruled by the grand old party, will change the development model of the country.

Alleging that people from weaker sections of society were being treated as second-class citizens, he said, "The Mahagathbandhan is committed to the welfare of Dalits, women and EBCs. We will do an X-ray of the country through a caste census but the BJP and RSS are against caste census." Gandhi arrived in Patna earlier in the day and went to Begusarai to participate in the ongoing 'Palayan Roko, Naukri Do' (stop migration, provide jobs) padyatra of the Congress, following which he returned to the state capital to address the symposium. In an X post, he wrote, "Be it the Champaran Satyagraha movement or the revolution of social justice, the land of Bihar has always taken concrete steps against injustice... Let us unite and raise the voice against attacks on the Constitution, against discrimination, for economic, social equality and justice."