A video of the incident has emerged on social media and has gone viral now.
This is next level Comedy 😂
— Veena Jain (@DrJain21) July 31, 2024
Congress workers protesting against Anurag Thakur's comment on Rahul Gandhi in UP
Police snatched effigy & Ran away to protect it from burning 🤣#Lucknow #RahulGandhi #AnuragThakur pic.twitter.com/fxs4gEeRWM
Similar scenes were witnessed in some other areas in Uttar Pradesh. In Hathras Congress supporters gathered at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Park on Agra Road, raised slogans and burnt the effigy of BJO MP Anurag Thakur.
In Hapur, District President Mithun Tyagi and City Congress President Abhishek Goyal along with other Congress supporters collected at Atarpur square where they burnt the effigy of the BJP leader.
The controversy erupted after, BJP MP Anurag Thakur, on Tuesday, during his speech in the Lok Sabha remarked on the caste census. The BJP MP, without taking any names said, “Those whose caste is not known, talk about the caste census.”
The remark came after Rahul Gandhi while speaking in the Parliament on Monday attacked the government by using the customary “halwa” ceremony and the absence of diversity in the process of preparing the budget. This prompted the BJP to respond by claiming that the Congress has a history “replete with instances of obstructing reservation.”
Thakur responded to this remark on Tuesday by enumerating the purported scams that have occurred throughout Congress administrations and remarked in Hindi, “Rahul ji, you spoke about ‘halwa’ (sweetmeat). Who had the ‘halwa’ from the Bofors scam, from the Antriksh-Dewas scam, from the Commonwealth Games, National Herald, submarine, AgustaWestland, 2G, coal, urea and fodder scams? Rahul ji, was the ‘halwa’ sweet or tasteless? Some people talk about OBCs, but for them (the Congress) OBC stands for ‘only for brother-in-law commission’. This party will talk about other backward castes?”
“The ‘shahzada’ (prince) from this party will give us ‘gyan’? First, he has to understand what LoP stands for – it is the Leader of the Opposition and not the Leader of propaganda. All I want to say is that he should stop spreading lies. There is a lot of talk about OBC and caste census. He whose caste is unknown is talking about a census?” Anurag Thakur added.
Rahul Gandhi and his obsession with caste
Caste divisions and religious intolerance have been Rahul Gandhi’s key tools lately to stay relevant in politics. For months on end, the entire I.N.D.I. alliance, in partnership with Congress and Rahul Gandhi, has been advocating for a caste-based census and the concept of ‘proportional representation based on population.’ The unveiled caste census data in Bihar had set the stage, and against this backdrop, Rahul Gandhi consistently emphasised that a Congress government will conduct a comprehensive nationwide caste census, urging the Modi government to reveal its results.
In December last year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had addressed a huge rally in Maharashtra’s Nagpur citing the occasion of the Congress’ 139th foundation day. Speaking at the party’s ‘Hain Taiyyar Hum’ rally, he stated that the Congress will conduct a caste census if it comes to power at the Centre post the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
In May this year, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi escalated his caste rhetorics as he made contentious remarks concerning the Indian Army. Gandhi, who was speaking at a public rally at Rae Bareli, criticised the ‘Agniveer Scheme’, and insinuated that there is a distinction between jawans belonging to the lower castes vis-a-vis those belonging to the upper castes.
On the 24th of April, the Gandhi scion reiterated his ‘X-ray’ remark saying that the Congress-led government would conduct a caste census and also scan the wealth held by different caste groups. He asserted that “no power can stop him from conducting caste census.”
In another infamous incident, the Congress leader in a verbal meltdown asked a journalist what his and his employer’s caste was, leading to a near lynching of the journalist by a mob of Congress supporters.
In fact, for the last few months, the Gandhi prince has perpetually been in ‘Kaun jaat ho?’ mode. Be it labelling PM Modi as a ‘fake OBC’ or reportedly demanding the caste profile of the passengers on a flight, finding out the caste details of Indians has become his obsession.
