Mandya, Oct 7: During the Karnataka leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday urged the state government to convene an assembly session and implement the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission report to increase reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the state.
“The ST reservation must be increased from 3% to 7% and the SC reservation should be increased from 15% to 17%. The BJP government has not acted on the Justice Das Commission report for more than two years. They should immediately call an assembly session and implement the findings of the report,” Gandhi said.
Addressing a public gathering at Brahmha Devarahalli village, he alleged that the Centre’s now-repealed three farm laws are still there in Karnataka and they are designed to create thousands of widows in the state.
He also said that there are “two Indias” being created by the ruling BJP where farmers are being forced to take loan at 24 per cent interest and rich industrialists are getting it at only six per cent.
Talking about farmer suicides, he said, “What sort of the country is this, where the richest people can borrow at 6 per cent and the farmers are forced to borrow at 24 per cent. “I think the three farm laws are still present in Karnataka, the laws that are designed to create thousands and thousands of widows in the state. Thousands of women’s husbands will walk into the fields without warning and never come back. That is going to be the impact of these laws,” he said.
Speaking about Bharat Jodo Rally, “I walk from morning to evening for over eight hours everyday to help unite the country that was being divided by the BJP on religious and communal lines. A family that is divided cannot succeed. In the same way, a country that is divided cannot succeed. Anybody who divides the country or spreads hatred in the country, is working against it,” Gandhi said.
