New Delhi: The Congress on Monday hit back at Home Minister Amit Shah over his attack on party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, saying he should focus on serious issues, such as the situation in Manipur and a caste census.
Shah on Monday said Kharge’s remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a poll rally in Jammu and Kashmir were “absolutely distasteful and disgraceful”.
In a post in Hindi on X, Kharge said, “Home Minister Amit Shah should focus on serious issues like Manipur, census and caste census.”
“Your government’s own survey says 92 per cent of the employees cleaning urban sewers and septic tanks come from SC, ST, OBC categories,” the Congress chief said.
“The BJP is against a caste census because then it will be known that through what kind of work SC, ST, OBC, EWS and all other categories are earning their livelihood. What is their economic and social status. What kind of targeted benefits of government schemes should they get,” Kharge said.
He asserted that the Congress is firmly committed to getting a nationwide caste census conducted. “We will get it done,” he added.
Kharge tagged the screenshot of a report in “The Hindu”, which said in a first-of-its-kind attempt to enumerate people engaged in the hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks in India’s cities and towns, government data gathered from more than 3,000 urban local bodies in 29 states and Union territories shows that 91.9 per cent of the 38,000 workers profiled so far belong to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) or Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities.
Asked about Shah’s attack on Kharge, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “In his election speech, Kharge said ‘I am not going to retire till I see the exit of the prime minister’, which is a perfect political statement to make. The non-biological prime minister and this self-declared Chanakya (Shah) have made disgraceful statements and they are now accusing Kharge.”
“There is nothing wrong about Kharge’s statement. This is a deliberate distortion, a deliberate and malicious twist (to the Congress chief’s remarks). If I start recounting all the nonsense spouted by the prime minister on the Congress and its leaders, I can go on and on,” Ramesh said.
The home minister should talk about the situation in ethnic strife-torn Manipur and the caste census, he said.
“He should talk about whether he is in favour of removing the 50-per cent cap on reservation for SCs, STs and OBC. He should say whether his government is going to support a law that will bring reservation for SCs, STs and OBC in private institutions as mandated in Article 55 of the Constitution, which was introduced by the Uttar Pradesh government when Arjun Singh was the human resource development minister,” Ramesh said.
These are the issues that the home minister should be talking about, he added.
Congress’s media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also hit out at Shah over his attack on Kharge.
“What Amit Shah has said in his tweet is wrong — that we hate Narendra Modi. We do not hate Narendra Modi but we love our country and hence, we want to make India free from his rule. It is our intention and aim,” Khera said.
Earlier, Shah said in “a bitter display of spite”, Kharge unnecessarily dragged the prime minister into his personal health matters by saying he would die only after removing Modi from power.
At an election rally in Jammu’s Jasrota on Sunday, Kharge was taken ill as he suffered a “syncopal attack” but resumed his speech after a brief pause, saying he will not die until Modi is removed from power.
“I am 83 years old. I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive till Prime Minister Modi is removed from power,” the Congress president said.
“I wanted to talk. But due to dizziness, I sat down. Please pardon me,” he added.
Shah hit out at Kharge over his remarks.
“Yesterday, the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech.
“In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing PM Modi from power,” Shah wrote on X.
He said Kharge’s remarks showed how much hate and fear Congress leaders have for Modi and that they are constantly thinking of him.
“As for the health of Mr. Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays, I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047,” the home minister said.
