Congress sacrificing Dalit cause, says PM Modi in Rajya Sabha; Opposition stages walkout

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday slammed Congress for sacrificing leaders from “Dalit and backward classes” in losing causes to protect “the family”, besides taking a pot-shot at the opposition party for showing double standards while dealing with corruption.

“Whenever such a situation arises, a Dalit and backward person has to bear the brunt and that family (the Gandhis) remains safe. The same was seen here too. You would have seen the issue of Lok Sabha Speaker, there too, their defeat was certain but who did they push forward? A Dalit. They knew that he would lose, still, he was fielded,” Modi said in the Rajya Sabha, replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.

The Congress-led opposition staged a walkout after Leader of the Opposition and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was prevented by Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar from intervening.

Dwelling on how politicians from the Backward Class are at the receiving end in the grand old party, Modi said, “In the President and Vice President elections, in 2022, they fielded Sushil Kumar Shinde; let the Dalits lose, they themselves have nothing to lose. In 2017, when the defeat was certain, they fielded Meira Kumar...Congress has an anti-SC/ST/OBC mindset, due to which they kept humiliating former President Ram Nath Kovind.”

“With this mindset, they left no stone unturned in insulting the first tribal woman President of the country and used words no one else can."

On the Lok Sabha results, Modi said he didn’t understand the reason for joy in Congress, which won 99 seats in comparison to 52 in 2019.

"Congress people are also happy. I can't understand the reason for this joy...Is this joy for the hattrick of loss? Is this joy for falling to nervous 90? Is this joy for another failed launch?..I even saw Kharge ji (a Dalit leader) full of energy. Kharge ji has served his party a lot and the blame of such a loss that should have been attributed to someone else was saved by him. He stood like a wall,” Modi said.

Taking the example of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party turning into an ally of Congress from an adversary, Modi said, “In Chhattisgarh, the chief minister of the Congress government was linked to a liquor scam. AAP used to say that the ED should put this CM behind bars. ED was dear to them at that time."

"They (Congress) are people who have double standards. In Delhi, they share the stage and level allegations against investigation agencies. They conduct rallies to protect the corrupt. In Kerala, their 'shehzada' appeals to send a CM—who is an ally in their alliance—to jail,” the prime minister said in an apparent reference to Congress leader’s Rahul Gandhi’s jab to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan on the eve of the election.

“He (Rahul) tells the Government of India to send him to jail. In Delhi, they raise an alarm over ED-CBI and the same people tell the same agencies to send the Kerala CM to jail,” Modi added.