Congress OBC leadership Bhagidari Nyay Mahasammelan Congress Accuses Modi, RSS of Denying OBC Rights

Modi doesn’t want to provide reservation to OBCs: Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge

New Delhi: The Congress launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of deliberately denying fair reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs).Speaking at the ‘Congress OBC leadership – Bhagidari Nyay Mahasammelan’ Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi, on July 25, 2025, Senior leadership including the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi reaffirmed and reiterated that the Congress will not only ensure that the caste census is done, but also that the 50 percent ceiling on the reservation is removed.

Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi only gives slogans and tries to adopt the policy of divide-and-rule by dividing the backwards, oppressed and the poor.

“PM Modi is not ready to give reservations to those who are poor, oppressed and belong to the backward classes. Thus, they have to unite and help achieve what they want,” he said. “They try and divide and then rule by dividing the backwards and the Scheduled Castes (SCs),” he alleged.

Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge questioned the OBC credentials of Prime Minister Modi saying he (Modi) was born as an upper caste and only after he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he got his caste included among the Other Backward Classes. Modi knows that the backward class people will rise sooner than later and snatch his chair. He said, while Modi provided reservation to the economically weaker general castes, he is not prepared to provide reservations to those who belong to backward classes.

The Congress President credited Shri Rahul Gandhi for bringing the issue of social justice to the forefront during the last Lok Sabha elections. He said, people accepted and acknowledged the issue, but the opposition alliance fell short by just 20-25 seats, otherwise it would have formed the government.

“Our people are doing, but Modi ji will not do anything. After Shri Rahul Gandhi raised the issue, Modi ji has announced to include caste enumeration in the Census,” Congress President claimed. Warning the people belonging to the SC and OBC communities against trusting the RSS and the BJP, Congress President remarked, they are like poison and can only be tried at the cost of one’s life. He also took a dig at the Prime Minister’s silence over US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. If a person talks 25 times about mediating peace with Pakistan, why do you remain silent? “Do you not have a voice? Are you deaf or dumb, blind? What are you? You did not protect the country, nor do you provide social justice but just keep going to the RSS,” Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said.

Shri Mallikarjun Kharge cautioned against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and said that the government of India wanted to do it across the country to disenfranchise lakhs of people from the voting rights that had been granted to them - thanks to the leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr BR Ambedkar. The BJP wants to finish the poor and take away their voting power, he alleged.

“I urge you to get united. There is a need for social justice in the country,” he said, asserting that this is the need of the hour and cited former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s words in this regard.

OBCs to recognize their strength and power: Shri Rahul Gandhi

Addressing the ‘Congress OBC leadership: Bhagidari Nyay Mahasammelan’, Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi made a fervent appeal to the youth belonging to the OBCs to recognize their strength and power. He told them that the RSS was their biggest enemy as it has tried to wipe out their history. He reiterated that the first and foremost mission of the Congress Party is to carry out caste census in all the states having the Congress government and second to remove the fifty percent barrier on reservations. This, he added, will be followed by a nationwide caste census. Referring to the caste census carried out by the Congress government in Telangana, Shri Rahul Gandhi said that it will cause political earthquake and the tremors will be felt, far and wide. Giving details, he said, sensational disclosures were made in the survey about the OBCs in particular who had practically no representation and participation in the power structure. He said, the OBCs were the “productive power” of the country who were at the centre of all sorts of production. He said, they produce food, build roads and buildings, construct hospitals and schools and yet their share in power is negligible.

The Leader of Opposition said that he felt that he should have taken up the issues of the OBCs long back. However, he promised that now he will ensure it with double speed and double force in a much better way.

He said that Modi ji says, “Hindu India, Hindu India”. You are 50% Hindu. If Hindu is India and you are 50% then why don’t you have a single person in media, why don’t you have a single person in corporate India, why don’t you have a woman? Where are the OBCs? Who is there? Is Adani an OBC? Your entire land is being given to him, your entire land. The land of OBC, Dalits, Adivasis is being snatched and given to Adani.

Accusing the RSS and the BJP of wiping out the OBCs’ history, Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi said, they were apprehensive that the moment the OBCs learnt about their own history, they will realize that the RSS is their biggest enemy. He observed, this attack has been going on against the OBCs for thousands of years in different forms. A galaxy of Congress leaders attended the ‘OBC Mahasammelan’, including AICC General Secretary Shri K.C. Venugopal, Karnataka Chief Minister Shri Siddaramaiah, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Shri Ashok Gehlot, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Shri Bhupesh Baghel, Shri Sachin Pilot, OBC Chairman Anil JaiHind, Office-Bearers and large numbers of OBC delegates from all over the country.