Arun Halder, former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) whose term ended this February, has thrown his weight behind BJP leader Anurag Thakur who triggered a massive row last week when he apparently asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s caste.
Noting that he sensed nothing wrong in the question, Halder — in an interview with News18 — alleged that Gandhi’s “character” is to “divide the country”.
“We all have our identities. If there is a question mark over someone’s identity, it’s not wrong to ask. Let him express his identity, why is he hiding it? We all have our caste identities. Today, questions are being raised about his (real) name and his caste. Why would one refuse to tell his lineage?” asked Halder.
He also delved into the past of the Gandhis to back Thakur as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi who shared the BJP leader’s speech online.
“You need to look at his past. Each and every person in his family had a habit of conning and fooling people… Instead of making a hue and cry (over Thakur’s Parliament speech), they should introspect their family lineage first and find out their actual family history. They (Gandhis) cannot come out in the open with it because, if they do so, their betrayal of the nation will be proven,” he said.
When asked to elaborate, Halder explained that he was referring to the question that lingers over the spelling of the Gandhi surname amid different faiths some Gandhis practised in the past.
CASTE ROW BACKGROUND
The row originated when the Congress questioned the halwa ceremony before the Budget presentation, with Rahul Gandhi raising the issue of caste of the officers seen with Nirmala Sitharaman, forcing the finance minister to hide her face in disbelief.
Responding to the statement, Thakur, in his speech, said: “The one whose caste is not known is talking about the census.” The remark was seen as a direct attack on Rahul Gandhi who used it politically as INDIA bloc colleague and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav rebutted it on the floor of the House.
As Congress and the opposition tried to target the government together, PM Modi shared the speech on social media in a clear indication that the BJP would face the onslaught aggressively. The prime minister called the speech a ‘must hear’, prompting the Congress to file a privilege motion complaint against him.
Thakur then reminded all of Nehru’s infamous ‘Buddhu’ statement while saying, “Some people’s sense of entitlement got hurt because of the statement I made. The result was that the entire ecosystem started yelling. They feel that only they can ask questions because they are privileged. They are those whose ancestors used to call backward classes people ‘buddhu’…their ancestors used to make excuses for not giving equality to Dalits and tribals…”
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