Congress itself exposing Gandhi-Vadras: BJP on Anand Sharma’s caste census letter.

Poonawalla’s remarks came after Anand Sharma wrote a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressing his discontent over the caste-census promise. BJP on Thursday took a veiled jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over senior party leader Anand Sharma’s contrasting opinion on caste census, saying that the party has exposed the Gandhi-Vadra leaders. While speaking to news agency ANI, party’s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “Congress itself exposes Congress and is showing the mirror to Gandhi-Vadras and showing them their real face and the hypocrisy they are going ahead with, only to divide the country for a few votes which they are never committed to. Isn’t it a fact that Anand Sharma cited?” The saffron camp leader further accused Rahul Gandhi of disrespecting his predecessors, former PMs Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, over their stand on cast census. Poonawalla said that this is not the first time Rahul Gandhi has been called out for taking a U-turn, showing hypocrisy, or disrespecting what his predecessors said. “The caste census was stopped by Pt. Nehru, and the Mandal Commission was opposed by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Their slogan was ‘jaat par an paat par, mohar lagegi hath par’… This is not the first time Rahul Gandhi has been called out for taking a U-turn, showing hypocrisy, or disrespecting what his predecessors had said… Even his allies like Akhilesh Yadav have called out his hypocrisy time and again,” he added. Poonawalla’s remarks came after Anand Sharma wrote a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressing his discontent over the caste-census promise made by Rahul Gandhi ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.In his letter to Kharge, Sharma said the Congress has never engaged in nor endorsed identity politics and the departure from the historic position of the party is a matter of concern for many. Quoting Indira and Rajiv Gandhi’s statements against caste-based identity politics, Sharma claimed, “In my humble opinion, this will be misconstrued as disrespecting the legacy of Indira ji and Rajiv ji. Also by default, that will be an indictment of successive Congress Governments and their work for empowerment of the disadvantaged sections. It also provides a handle to detractors and political opponents of the Congress.” Caste census, a caste-wise tabulation of India’s population which is an election promise of the Grand Old Party, can not be a panacea or a solution for unemployment and prevailing inequalities, Sharma wrote. “A fundamental departure from time honoured policy on this critical and sensitive subject has major long-term national implications,” the letter added.