Condemning Congress' politics of falsehood, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday accused the Grand Old Party of misleading people on the issue of caste census and asked why the party did not conduct such an exercise during the 50 years of its rule in the country.".
Attending an election rally in Khunti, Defence Minister said, in 2011 a caste and socio-economic census was held in the country, and nearly 46 lakh sub-castes, gotras, and communities were tallied.
"Those who conducted the survey, themselves decided against publishing the results due to the large number of castes," he said, pointing that the then social welfare department had revealed that there were over 1,200 SC and 750 ST, 2,500 OBC communities in the country at that time.".
Claiming the Congress was playing a fraud on people in the name of caste census, Rajnath Singh asked party president Mallikarjun Kharge to stop fooling people and share instead his party's blueprint for the welfare of the marginalised sections.
"My question to Khargeji is how will you provide reservation to the lakhs of castes and which caste will get how much reservation?" asked the Defence Minister.
Accusing the Congress of spreading canards about the benefits of the caste census, Rajnath Singh called for a debate on how such a census would benefit the marginalised and the deprived sections.
"We also want the welfare of the people at the bottom of the social ladder, we want to eradicate poverty but what has the Congress done over the years? It has only made the nation poorer," he said.
On the contrary, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned around the economy and brought it to the world's fifth largest place from when it was 11th largest in 2014. "By 2027, our economy will become the third largest in the world," he said.
He also attacked the Congress for amending the Constitution and spreading rumours that the statute was under threat under BJP rule.
Congress leaders should explain why caste census was not held for the last five decades, said Rajnath Singh.
"They are fooling people in Jharkhand. I want people to question Congress leaders on how many castes are there. How many reservations would be given to which caste," he said.
The Defence Minister himself lambasted the Jharkhand government of JMM-Congress-RJD over corruption. "The Chief Minister was arrested for corruption. The BJP has also given two Chief Ministers in Jharkhand but there were no allegations of corruption against them."
He also attacked Congress, JMM, and RJD for infiltration into the state and sought answers why tribal population in the state has come down from 52 per cent to 28 per cent.
"The infiltration has threatened the tribal community and heritage", he added.
The new 81-member Assembly will be elected through voting in two phases on November 12 and November 20. The results will be declared on November 23.
New BJP government to enact law for reclaiming land usurped from tribals, also review cases filed against tribals by the forest department, promised Rajnath Singh.
He said cooking gas cylinders will be provided for Rs 500 each instead of Rs 1,200 and two free LPG cylinders in a year among BJP's poll promises.
He also said that the five lakh self-employment opportunities will be generated by the BJP government in the next five months and fill 2.27 lakh vacancies transparently.
He also assured a two-year financial assistance of Rs 2,000 a month to graduates and under graduates to help them hone their skills for jobs.
The Defence Minister assured girls of free education and further promised that the new government would also open new colleges.
He also announced that the new BJP government would increase the MSP of paddy from Rs 2,400 per quintal to Rs 3,100 per quintal with many other enhancements like increasing pension for widows and handicapped to Rs 2,500 per month.
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