Patna (Bihar):
Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi met Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav in Patna on Saturday evening.
The Congressman addressed 'Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan' in Patna earlier in the day during his visit to the state.
I think I did well @RahulGandhi I think it's good @laluprasadrjd I think it's good @RabriDeviRJD I think I did it right Tejashwi Yadav is one of the main sources of all this I think I did it right I think it's right!#Bihar pic.twitter.com/kCh1U3RuhM
— Rashtriya Janata Dal (@RJDforIndia) January 18, 2025
During his speech, Rahul Gandhi took on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and called the state's caste census a 'fake'.
“A caste census should be conducted to understand the true situation of the nation. It will not resemble the bogus caste census conducted in Bihar…Policies should be made based on the caste census…Congress will pass the law. caste census in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. We will break the barrier of 50 percent reservations…,” he said.
Targeting the BJP, he said, “When they found out that the people from the backward community, Dalits, are taking the representation, they gave you the representation but took away the power. They put their people in every organization …” he claimed.
Rahul Gandhi also continued his attack on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's comments on not considering August 15, 1947 as Independence Day.
The Congressman accused the RSS chief of downplaying the ideology of BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi from every institution in India. He also advocated the ideology of the constitution. He said, “…We wanted that just as the water of Ganga flows everywhere, the ideology of the Constitution should also reach every person and institution of the nation.”
Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh told reporters: “He finds everything fake when he uses the 'Sardarof falsehood. The caste census that took place in Bihar, on the basis of which he demanded a caste census (nationwide). When we were part of the INDIA alliance and demanded the same, they remained silent. Why were they silent?”
Earlier, the Caste Census was held in Bihar under the JDU-RJD-Congress alliance led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Rahul Gandhi's visit to the state comes at a time when the protests by the aspirants of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) are in full swing.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)