NEW DELHI: BJP MP Anurag Thakur, whose caste attack on Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha has triggered a storm, on Thursday doubled down on his attacks against the Congress leader and invoked remarks of former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to prove how his family has always been against reservations for the backwards.
The BJP leader, whose Lok Sabha speech was shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media, claimed that Rahul’s father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had referred to backwards and dalits as fools. “These are the same people whose ancestors have referred to dalits and backwards as fools. Those (Rajiv Gandhi) who called others fool, today have number of fools in their house,” Anurag Thakur said attacking the former Prime Minister.
The BJP MP then read out parts of report based on an interview given by Rajiv Gandhi to Navbharat Times on March 3, 1985.
“Rajiv Gandhi feels that the provision of reservation for the backwards while framing the Constitution has been politicised greatly in the past. Time has come for a fresh rethink on all these provisions. People who are actually backward and oppressed should get the benefit of reservations. But the entire country will suffer by expanding its scope in different areas to encourage fools,” Anurag Thakur quoted from the media report.
“I ask the super intelligent son of former Prime Minister to explain if the backward classes were fools in the eyes of his father. Will Congress condemn this remark? Will the grand old party pass a resolution against this remark?” the BJP MP asked.
Reacting to the storm raised by his speech, Anurag Thakur said: “Some people’s sense of entitlement has been hurt by my speech in Lok Sabha. As a result their entire ecosystem has raised a storm. These privileged people think that only they have the right to ask questions.”
The BJP leader also accused Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru of going all out to deny reservations to the backward classes. He charged the Congress leaders of putting hurdles in the implementation of reports by the Mandal and Kaka Kalelkar commissions.
Thakur went on to claim that there is widespread doubt about Rahul Gandhi’s intentions among OBC, SC, Dalit, and tribal communities due to his family’s legacy of opposing reservation. “People doubt Rahul Gandhi because he is from a family that opposed reservation,” he said.
On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi had accused Anurag Thakur of “abusing and insulting” him during the Lok Sabha discussion on the Union Budget after the two leaders were engaged in a heated exchange.
“Those whose caste is not known, talk about the caste-census. I want to remind the Speaker that in this House itself, a former prime minister RG-1 (Rajiv Gandhi) had opposed reservation for OBCs,” the BJP MP had said.
In response, Rahul Gandhi said, “Whoever raises the issues of Adivasi, Dalit and the backward, is abused. I will accept these abuses willingly…Anurag Thakur has abused me and insulted me, but I do not want any apology.”
