From caste census to Agnipath revocation, Rahul reiterates Cong's five guarantees in Rajasthan

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on a campaign trail in Rajasthan on Thursday, launched a fierce attack on the Centre for its "pro-rich focus" and said that if party is voted to power, it will put an end to "discriminatory" governance besides bringing in a system, where people of all castes and community get adequate representation.

Rahul, addressing a huge public gathering in Bikaner, reiterated the Congress party's five big guarantees including caste census, Mahalaxmi Yojana, apprenticeship scheme, MSP for crops and repealing of Agnipath scheme.

Pitching for caste census as the party's first task, he said that this will be a great step towards social justice as this would end the dominance of a "minuscule" population on the country's vast resources.

The Congress leader further said that Mahalaxmi Yojana will empower the women as Rs 1 lakh will be credited into their account every year while the apprenticeship scheme will open the doors for employment for youth, besides giving them financial assistance during the training period.

He claimed that the Agnipath Yojana has been brought by the Modi government against the will of armed forces, and if Congress is voted to power, the party will first repeal this law.

Reiterating his charge that 90 bureaucrats run the country, out of which just three hail from backward castes, the Congress leader called for "correcting the errors of past and mark a fresh beginning".

"Though there exists no actual data, 50 per cent of the country's population comprises of backward castes and their representation in government machinery remains abysmally low," Rahul said at the poll rally.

Rahul accused Modi government of extending favours to a few select 20-25 billionaires of the country and also said that the government has written off the loans of rich and powerful but poor people continue to remain burdened.

"PM Modi didn't fulfill his poll promises of providing two crore jobs to unemployed youth, Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts of commoners but went to write off loans to the tune of Rs 16 lakh crore of industrialists," Rahul said, amid cheers from the crowd.

Claiming that the 2024 poll is a fight between nation's 20-25 billionaires in the country and a billion-plus population, he urged the people to vote for an equitable democracy, where all castes and communities have equal representation and country's resources don't remain a preserve of few select ones.

On April 5, the Congress, while launching its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, promised five Nyay and 25 guarantees.