Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has sparked a row by making a controversial remark against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Rawat reportedly said that Gandhi reached parliament in an 'inebriated' state. “Rahul Gandhi should seek information before making any kind of statement. He once again reached Parliament in an inebriated state,” the Uttarakhand Chief Minister said while commenting on Supreme Court’s ruling on the reservation.
Rawat said this when asked to comment on Gandhi’s remark outside the Parliament in which he said that ‘it is in the DNA of the BJP and the RSS to try and erase reservations.
Slamming the former Congress president for his remarks, Rawat said that he should have known that his party was in power when the state government abolished reservation in promotion in 2012.
Earlier, taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Gandhi said, “We will not allow reservation to be done away with, no matter how much Modi Ji or Mohan Bhagwat dream of it.”
Gandhi slammed the BJP government of Uttarakhand for contending in the Supreme Court that there was no fundamental right to claim reservation in appointments or promotions in public posts, and there was no constitutional duty on the part of the state governments to provide reservations. “The ideology of the RSS and the BJP is against reservation. The RSS and the BJP cannot stand the idea that Dalits, tribals and OBCs have reservations,” the former Congress president told reporters outside Parliament.
ALSO READ: Reservation Ruling Sparks Row, Modi Govt Says Congress Politicising Sensitive Matter
“They (the RSS and BJP) wake up every morning and this (reservation) irritates them. Except it is in our Constitution, and these rights are guaranteed by our Constitution,” Gandhi said.
They have attempted to remove reservation in one way or the other, he alleged and cited the examples of destruction of the Ravidas temple and the government’s actions on the SC/ST sub-plan.
With PTI Inputs