Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said the party is committed to ensuring social justice as atrocities against SCs, STs, women and tribals have risen in the Modi government's 10 years and called this the most important issue in the Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a Samajik Nyay Sammelan organised by the Samruddh Bharat Foundation in an online statement, he said it is necessary to remove the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi from power to preserve the Constitution.
"Social justice is the most important issue in the 18th Lok Sabha elections and it concerns everyone. It has also remained the core issue of our ideology," he said.
"In the last decade, the Modi government has done great injustice to Dalits, tribals, Bahujans, minorities and women. Caste discrimination and atrocities have increased. There is a huge backlog. But, every other day, BJP leaders are threatening to end reservation and change the Constitution, which Ambedkar, Nehru, Azad and other makers of India have given us. The BJP is the biggest threat to India, especially to SCs (Scheduled Castes), STs (Scheduled Tribes), OBCs (Other Backward Classes), women and minorities," Kharge added.
The Congress chief claimed that the party's new guarantee of "'hissedari (participatory)' justice" is part of the concept of social and economic equality.
"We will revive the component plan of SCs and STs and protect their rights to water, forest and land. We fulfil our promises. The history of this is evident from the schemes implemented by the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government such as the MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), RTE (Right to Education), RTI (Right to Information), Right to Food, forest rights, street vendors' rights etc. The Modi government has not done any such work in the last 10 years," Kharge said.
He claimed the Modi government's lone achievement has been to make a few "friends" rich.
"Due to the policies of the Modi government, the inequality gap has widened. The condition of the weaker sections has gone from bad to worse in these 10 years," Kharge said.
"Prime Minister Modi has constantly promoted his caste to fool the backward communities. Since coming to power, he has done nothing for the backward (classes) and Dalits and has only used them as a vote bank. If he comes back to power, there will be another five years of injustice to SCs, STs, OBCs, women and minorities. It is necessary to remove him from power to preserve Babasaheb's Constitution," he asserted.
The Congress chief also hit out a the prime minister over his attacks at the party.
"Modi ji has some special love for the Congress. He definitely mentions the Congress in each of his speeches. Because he knows it is the Congress that is challenging his throne. Our organisation is from Kanyakumari to Kashmir," he said.
Kharge claimed that the Congress stands firm on the strength of its ideas and said the strength is the strength of social justice. "Our struggle against those who think of an unequal society will continue till we reach our destination. And our victory is going to happen soon."
He said the vision of Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar has been at the centre of the party's thoughts.
The Congress president said right to equality has been given in the Constitution with Mahatma Gandhi's vision of ensuring justice for all.
"From equality of opportunity to the right to livelihood, everything has been given. SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities and other weaker sections should get equal opportunities. Women should get equal opportunities, the gap between villages and cities should be bridged, there should be no economic inequality, backward areas should not become like islands, we made the Constitution and plans after considering all these things. Not only this, work has been done to advance the representation of weaker sections from panchayats to Parliament under the leadership of the Congress," he said.
Noting that social justice is a broad term, Kharge said society cannot be changed overnight. "But to change society, there must be deep thinking and a legal basis but our leaders did both."
The Congress, he said, has never deviated from this agenda.
Under Rahul Gandhi's leadership, the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra were conducted across the country and had social justice at the centre.
These yatras put the basic issues before the public and they worked to tell how the Modi government is destroying the four pillars of justice -- justice, liberty, equality, fraternity -- are in the Preamble of the Constitution.
"Can you imagine how much respect those who talk about changing the Constitution have for SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities, the poor and women? The demand for a caste census has been going on for two years but Modi ji's silence on this question is nothing but a betrayal of social justice," Kharge said.
The Congress leader claimed that the reality is that RSS-BJP has never talked about the idea of ??equality. "They talk about these things only in speeches. In reality, they make their billionaire friends rich and the public poor. They do not hesitate to sell the public's resources to make a few industrialists rich."
