India Has Become the Slave of 2-3 BJP Leaders and the RSS, Says Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday slammed PM Narendra Modi for driving a wedge between the OBC community and said that the country is currently being run by three people — PM Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

While addressing the National Convention of Other Backward Class (OBC), Gandhi stated that in the current regime, “The skilled are often in the background, whereas the real benefits are derived by someone else.”

The Congress president gave an example of an Indian fashion designer being insulted by his foreign peers in France. “When I met one of those international designers a few years later, he told me that they were not making fun of the Indian designer but the fact that he was not the creator of the dress. The tailor was sitting backstage,” said Rahul.

He added saying, “Unless we allow real talent to take the front stage, others will continue to take the benefit. This is what is happening in India.”

To further buttress his point, he stated that “the owner of Coca-Cola once sold 'shikanji' in America, while the owner of McDonald's ran a 'dhaba'. Real talent needs to be encouraged in the country. Why can’t a mechanic become the owner of a Ford-like company in India?”

Before Rahul started speaking, Congress leaders ushered him onto the stage as the “future Prime Minister of India” and also stated that “OBCs should reserve all their demands for now and concentrate on Congress gaining a smooth majority in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections”.

The Congress president said that it was because of the RSS and a few others in the government that the Centre does not focus on OBC issues.

“Today, our nation has become a slave of 2-3 BJP leaders and the RSS. Everyone, including MPs, are afraid to speak. Most of them are not allowed to speak. And those of us who do speak, the BJP does not listen to. Only RSS is given a hearing," Rahul said.

Taking the stage, a Congress leader pushed the government to take a current census data of the OBCs in India to ensure proper devolution of resources.

“We should know our count in the population. Are we at 52% or 55% or 65%? We have a census for animals, dogs etc. but there is no count for us. The government should make clear what the current population stats is for the OBCs in the country,” said Congress leader Tarun.

Rahul Gandhi, in his speech, had also critiqued the Modi government for how it how turned a “blind eye to the issues of farmers”.

“You will never see a farmer in Narendra Modi's office. Under Modi government, farmers don't get their due. They keep committing suicide but their loans are not waived," said Gandhi, adding that the BJP-led NDA regime has ignored the interests of farmers but instead helped a selected group of industrialists by waiving loans amounting to nearly Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

He also raised the Nirav Modi scam to prove that the current government was “hand in gloves with the famous whereas the real plight of the marginalised was often ignored”.

Rahul also attacked PM Modi’s pet ‘Make in India’ project and said that it had failed in its endeavour to create jobs.

“Look at Make in India. It was going to give employment to over 2 crore people but our country is currently reeling under the highest rate of unemployment ever,” said Gandhi, as he occasionally reminded people of the “contribution” of Gandhi family in the cause of OBCs which included “reservation in jobs, employment etc.”