STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Terming the remarks as attributed to Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi as “untrue”, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that reservation would continue until there is untouchability and a lack of social justice for various sections of the society in the country.
Kharge sidestepped a direct reply about the National Conference’s (NC) resolve to restore Article 370 and said their agenda is to restore “statehood”.
“Reservation cannot be scrapped until there is casteism in the Hindu religion. Until there is untouchability and lack of social justice, reservation will continue. It will continue till my death. I will tell my children to fight for it,” Kharge told a press conference here.
Responding to a question about Gandhi’s remarks on reservation, Kharge clarified, “He has not said so. He will not even say so. We will not even allow him to say (anything like this)”.
The Congress president emphasized that his party fully supports reservation. “It will not go. We will fight for it,” he said.
Gandhi, who is in the US, told the students of Georgetown University that the Congress would think of scrapping reservations when “India is a fair place” but added that this is not the case right now. When asked whether his party would support the National Conference’s resolve to bring back Article 370, Kharge said, “You know our agenda (on Article 370). You should go through our working committee resolutions. What we have said, we will go by that. Our one aim is to restore statehood. Other things later.”
Kharge also revealed the eight-point promises in their recently released manifesto, reiterating, “Our first agenda is the restoration of statehood. After ensuring that, other matters can come later.”
Regarding the elections, Kharge expressing optimism said, “The first phase of elections went well. We are hopeful that the NC and Congress will get maximum seats. In the upcoming phases too, the NC and Congress alliance will gain good seats and form a government that works for all sections of the people. We expect a majority in this election.” Replying to another question whether it was surrender for the Congress to give maximum seats to the National Conference (NC), Kharge said, “No, it was neither a surrender nor a compulsion for the Congress. The alliance is nationwide. It can be seen in Parliament too.”