Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi with Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, during floral tributes to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary at Prerna Sthal, Parliament House Lawns in New Delhi on April 14, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday (April 14, 2025) accused the Modi government of paying only “lip service” to B.R. Ambedkar’s legacy but doing nothing to fulfil his wishes, and claimed the BJP-RSS were “enemies” of the architect of the Constitution.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his criticism of the Congress’ treatment of Ambedkar, Mr. Kharge cited a letter by Ambedkar in which he blamed S.A. Dange and V.D. Savarkar for his defeat in the elections of 1952.
Speaking to reporters on the occasion of Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, Mr. Kharge stressed the need for a nationwide caste census as well as implementation of reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs in private educational institutions.
Work in progress: On the Congress and its Ahmedabad session
He said the Constitution is a gift from Ambedkar to citizens as it gives them the right of social, economic and political justice.
“In the AICC session, we have taken this forward. We forwarded the ideas of social justice in the AICC session,” he said.
Mr. Kharge said the Congress wants to forward five issues that it is striving for and asserted that a nationwide caste census is necessary.
“The Centre is making policies on the basis of the 2011 census and nothing is known about the 2021 census that was supposed to happen. Policies are made on the basis of census. We demand that along with the general census, a caste census should also be conducted so as to know how much which section has progressed,” he said.
The Congress president said the government is not ready to get a caste census done.
Congress reiterates demand for caste census, removal of 50% ceiling on quotas
He also asserted that the fundamental guarantee given under Article 15(5), introduced by the Congress on January 20, 2006, to provide reservation to OBCs, SCs and STs in private educational institutions must be implemented without delay.
He also highlighted the need for a central law for the SC/ST sub-plan and guarantee budgetary allocations in accordance with their population.
Mr. Kharge stressed the need to remove the 50% cap on reservations.
The Congress president said that when the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed two years ago, the party’s demand was that it should be implemented immediately and there should be a quota for SC, ST and OBC women under it.
“The Modi government takes the name of Ambedkar but is not ready to fulfil his aspirations and wishes. They only pay lip service,” he said.
Published – April 14, 2025 01:28 pm IST