Indore, Sep 5 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Saturday said that before addressing the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme here, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the country’s youth for the “injustice” done by the previous Congress governments.
Yadav claimed that youth, farmers, women and other sections of society remained poor during the Congress’ rule in the state from 1956 to 2003.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, is scheduled to address the ‘Chhatro Ki Goonj’ students’ interaction programme in Indore on September 19.
“If the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha is coming to Madhya Pradesh, he is welcome. But before that, he should apologise for the injustice done to the state’s youth by previous Congress governments,” Yadav told reporters in Indore.
Unemployment was high during the previous Congress governments and the state’s per capita income stood at only Rs 11,700, he said.
Under the present BJP government, per capita income in the state has risen to Rs 1.67 lakh, he claimed.
The ‘Students Ki Goonj’ programme was earlier scheduled to be held on September 12, but the Congress postponed the event to September 19, saying the state government had denied permission to organise it at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Indore. The programme will now be held at another venue.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Dr Ragini Nayak alleged in a press conference that the state government was using using “saam, daam, dand, bhed” (all possible means) to obstruct the proposed programme in Indore.
She said the alleged tactics of the BJP would have no impact as students and young people were opposed to the ruling party’s policies and approach.
Nayak also raised concerns over the proposed caste enumeration during the 2027 Census, saying notified caste lists would be used for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, while open-ended caste entries would be allowed for OBC and general categories.
She claimed that under such a system, the same caste among OBC and general categories could be recorded under different names, spellings and sub-castes, leading to major discrepancies in the data.
The Congress spokesperson demanded that state-wise verified “drop-down” caste lists, containing predefined caste options from which a caste can be selected directly in the software, be used for recording castes of SCs, STs, OBCs and general categories in India’s first fully digital Census.
She alleged that the Centre was deliberately avoiding conducting the caste census properly. PTI HWP LAL NP
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