Two Chief Ministers were arrested, but 'tribal CM' still in jail: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday drew a comparison between the arrests of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and said that a "tribal Chief Minister" continues to be behind bars.

The Wayanad MP was addressing a session titled 'Samvidhan Samman Sammelan' in Haryana's Panchkula.

"It is clearly mentioned in our Constitution that every citizen in the country should be treated equally. So my simple question is, what is the participation of 90 percent of people? Whether it is media or bureaucracy, 90 per cent of people are not a part of it... it is as if they don't exist," Rahul Gandhi said.

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"Two Chief Ministers were arrested. The Adivasi Chief Minister (Hemant Soren) is still in jail. He was arrested before and is still behind bars. The national media has forgotten him; it doesn't talk about him... Mayawati is corrupt but not Naveen Patnaik, Lalu Yadav is corrupt... if someone is tribal or Dalit, he is automatically framed," he added.

Rahul Gandhi said the system is heavily aligned against the lower castes and that he knows the system from inside as his grandmother and father were prime ministers. He also said he used to visit the PM's house when Manmohan Singh lived there.

"In the prime minister's house, when my grandmother and later father were PM and later Dr Manmohan Singh, I used to go, so I know the system from inside. And I am saying the system is aligned against lower castes in a major way (bhayankar tareeke sey) at every level," he said.

He asserted that the country's 90 per cent population, including the Dalits, OBCs, tribal communities and the minorities, does not have representation in the country's narrative and power structure.

"How can it be that 90 per cent do not have merit? It cannot be so. So, there must be something lacking in the system. I found it. I dug out all the figures," he said.

"In the media, senior anchors, senior influencers, media owners, senior managers -- not even one is a Dalit, tribal or OBC. I did not find even one," he claimed.

Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in January this year in connection with a money laundering case related to an alleged land scam. He is currently in judicial custody. He was not able to get any interim relief from the courts.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. He was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court until June 1.

(Inputs from ANI, PTI)

Published By: Shweta Kumari Published On: May 23, 2024

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