press trust of india
Sanand, Nov 24: Slamming Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani for reportedly not accepting a giant tricolour made by Dalits citing lack of space, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday said he would have accepted even a 50,000 km-long national flag even if he had little space to keep it.
The Congress vice president also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rupani have space in their hearts only for a few industrialists, but not Dalits, farmers and the poor.
Rahul was addressing a gathering of Dalits at Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), a vocational training institute near Sanand town in Ahmedabad district, where he accepted a 125×83.3 feet tricolour weighing 240 kg. The national flag was earlier meant to be presented to Rupani. In August, the DSK had even carried the tricolour to Gandhinagar. However, officials at the collectorate had allegedly refused to accept it citing lack of space.
Rahul attacked Modi and Rupani over the Una Dalit flogging incident. He also assailed the Prime Minister over the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad (UoH).
On the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit organized by the state government, he said the state is vibrant only for “5-7 industrialists of Modiji” and not farmers, tribals, poor or Dalits.
He said the Congress wants to eradicate untouchability from not just one village, but from the mind of every Indian. Rahul said that was also the goal of BR Ambedkar.
The members of DSK said the tricolour was made by Dalits, who also donated money to raise Rs 54,000 for it. They said Rahul wants the national flag gifted to him to be kept at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum in New Delhi.
