Lagatar24 Desk
Sagar, Aug 22: After winning the state’s legislative elections, the Congress would undertake a caste census in Madhya Pradesh, the party’s president Mallikarjun Kharge declared on Tuesday, accusing the central government of wanting to amend the Constitution.
He was speaking to a crowd in Sagar, in the Bundelkhand region of MP.
At the end of the year, assembly elections are anticipated in the BJP ruled state of Madhya Pradesh.
“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,” Kharge remarked in remembrance of Dr. BR Ambedkar, who was born in MP’s Mhow.
Kharge criticized the BJP, which is currently in power, for “remembering” Sant Ravidas, a revered member of the Scheduled Castes, during elections.
A 100 crore rupee memorial/temple for Sant Ravidas was recently inaugurated in Sagar district by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the 2011 Census, there were 1.13 crore Dalits living in MP.
“Modi ji is in power for the last nine years while Chouhan (Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan) is ruling the state for the last 18 years. They remembered Ravidas only at the time of the polls,” Kharge said.
Kharge asserted, citing a newspaper report, that the BJP destroyed a Sant Ravidas temple in Delhi.
If elected to power in Madhya Pradesh, he declared, the Congress would establish a university in the Sagar district in honor of Sant Ravidas.
Kharge further declared that after regaining power in MP, Congress would conduct a caste-based census.
Kharge accused Prime Minister Modi of not doing “anything” to stop the violence in the northeastern state of Manipur.
Additionally, he claimed that the Bundelkhand package, which had been approved on the advice of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, had not been executed by the BJP government.
Six assembly seats in Bundelkhand, in northeastern MP, are set reserved for SCs; in the 2018 state elections, the BJP won five of those seats—namely, Bina, Naryoli, Jatara, Chandala, and Hatta—while the Congress was able to secure Gunnor.
Sagar, Chattarpur, Tikamgarh, Nimari, Damoh, and Panna districts make up Bundelkhand, which has 26 assembly seats. In the most recent state elections, the BJP won 15 of those seats, the Congress received nine, and the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Parties each won one.
In response to a recent demand from Union Home Minister Amit Shah for Congress to outline its accomplishments during its 53 years in power in MP, Kharge provided a list of many institutions, including the Bhilai Steel Plant, the IIM and IIT in Indore, the AIIMS in Bhopal, and the Chambal Ghati Project.
