RANCHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh said in Jharkhand Friday that Congress has been deceiving the electorate by promising a nationwide caste census, as it does not have any blueprint for identifying the castes and determining their quota.
“Rahul Gandhi does not know how many castes exist in the country. In 2011, they conducted a caste census, but did not publish its report. The social welfare department conducted a census a few years ago and it was found there are nearly 8,000 castes. Congress does not have a blueprint on how they plan to implement caste-based reservations, and which caste gets how much reservation. They are only deceiving the people,” Singh said at a rally in Khijri (ST) constituency in Ranchi.
Earlier in the day, Singh addressed rallies in Tundi in Dhanbad and Mahagama in Godda. He said the BJP-headed NDA would win two-thirds of the 43 assembly segments that voted in the first phase.
Attacking the Hemant Soren-headed INDIA bloc in the state, Singh said only a person who has not been tainted should become the CM. “Three CMs of Jharkhand have served time in prison. On the other hand, look at our CMs – Babulal Marandi, Raghubar Das and Arjun Munda. No one can point fingers at them for graft,” he said.
Citing Chhattisgarh’s instance, Singh said a stable BJP government for two straight terms is imperative for Jharkhand. “While Jharkhand has slid downhill in the last few years, Chhattisgarh has taken its place among the developed states. It happened because there was a stable BJP government for three terms.”