Is communicating with Dalits a sin, asks Congress over Rahul Gandhi's Darbhanga address permission
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday (May 15, 2025) hit out at the JDU-BJP government in Bihar, accusing it of sheer dictatorship by "preventing" Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi from holding a 'Shiksha Nyay Samvad' in Darbhanga.
Mr. Gandhi addressed students at Mithila University's Ambedkar Hostel, despite being allegedly denied permission to hold the event.
"Is communicating with Dalit, deprived and backward class students against the Constitution? Is it a sin to talk to them about their education, their recruitment exams and jobs," asked Mr. Kharge.
"It is the height of dictatorship that the JDU-BJP government prevented Rahul Gandhi from attending the 'Shiksha Nyay Samvad' program at the Ambedkar Hostel in Darbhanga, Bihar," he said in a post on X in Hindi.
Also Read | Rahul Gandhi welcomes 'sudden announcement' of caste count, demands timeline
Kharge said the birthplace of democracy Bihar will remember this "injustice" and will give a befitting reply to JDU-BJP when the time comes.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared a video of police action in preventing Gandhi from going to the Ambedkar students hostel in Darbhanga.
"India is a democracy, it is governed by the Constitution, not by dictatorship. No one can stop us from raising our voice for social justice and education," Ramesh said in his post on X.
The Congress had also expressed outrage on the suggestion by the authorities to change the venue to an alternative site.
Addressing the students, Gandhi claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to hold a caste census "out of fear" of the country's deprived population, to which the opposition was lending its voice.
The leader of the opposition made the remark at a charged-up interaction with students in Darbhanga district of Bihar.
"As you all are aware, my car was stopped at the gate (of Mithila University). But I did not relent. I got out and took a circuitous route to reach here on foot," said the Rae Bareli MP, who launched 'Shiksha Nyay Samvad', a public interaction programme in Bihar where assembly polls are due later this year.
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