Amid uproar over his remarks, Anurag Thakur hits back at Congress

Former Union Minister and Lok Sabha MP Anurag Thakur on Thursday accused the Congress party and its “ancestors” of conspiring against reservation for backward classes and Dalits.

Referring to the uproar by the Opposition on his caste-related remarks during the Budget debate on Tuesday, Mr. Thakur said: “My speech deeply hurt the sense of entitlement of some people as a result of which the entire ecosystem of the Congress is creating a hue and cry. They feel that only they have the right to ask questions because they are privileged. These are the same people whose ancestors used to call the backward, Dalits and deprived as fools.”

Mr. Thakur alleged that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had “publicly called” people from the backward communities “fools”.

“Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party should read the Lucknow edition of Navbharat Times dated March 3, 1985, that had a byline of Alok Mehta, whose interview was titled ‘No promotion of intellectuals in the name of reservation’. Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi had said that he will not promote fools in the name of reservation,” he said.

Mr. Thakur asked if the Congress would condemn the statement made by Rajiv Gandhi in the interview. “The very intelligent son of the former Prime Minister will tell this country why the backward class was considered buddhu (fool) in the eyes of his father? Will the Congress publicly condemn a very disgusting casteist statement made by Rajiv Gandhi? Will any resolution be passed against that statement,” he asked.

The BJP leader said that when Jawaharlal Nehru was asked why reservation was not being given to Dalits and Adivasis “he made an excuse that giving them reservation will create inferiority complex in their minds, so they are not being given reservation...”. He also accused former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of following the same policy.

“Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal, who prepared the Mandal Commission report, waited for the implementation of the report and passed away, but Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi did not implement it. Rajiv Gandhi had openly opposed the implementation of the Mandal Commission report. When Kaka Kalelkar’s report came, the Congress suppressed this report in the same way. If the feudals in the Congress party had not obstructed the Mandal report and Kaka Kalelkar report, then the situation would have been different today,” he said.