Bodhgaya, Bihar:
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi attacked Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for their tirade against people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
"In Maharashtra, MNS leader Raj Thackeray keeps on saying throw out people of Bihar and UP. But, who killed the terrorists who had attacked Mumbai? They were the NSG guys from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and from the rest of the country. At that time they did not say throw away Biharis," he said.
Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's comment, in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, Uddhav Thakeray on Tuesday has said Rahul's comments have insulted the martyrs of 26/11.
Gandhi made the remarks at an interactive session with workers of Youth Congress and National Students' Union of India (NSUI) in Bodhgaya, Bihar, and while addressing a conference on Dalit youth leadership development.
The Congress leader said in lighter vein: "If terrorists have to be fought with, let Biharis remain there."
Asking the youth to change Bihar, Gandhi lamented lack of development in the state. "Bihar has to be changed and it is the youth that will bring this change by joining politics. There is no problem with people of Bihar," he said.
Gandhi is on a two day visit to the state to boost NSUI and Youth Congress membership drive at a time when Bihar is preparing for assembly elections later this year.
The Congress leader took potshots at the BJP-JD(U) government in the state, saying funds sent by the Centre for development schemes in Bihar were not utilised properly.
"We can send money but we cannot implement schemes. It is the state government's responsibility and in Bihar the government is not of Congress. We can send money and we are sending it more and more, but if the money is eaten away, we (the Centre) cannot do anything," Gandhi said.
Virtually putting the party into election mode, Gandhi listed the UPA's flagship rural job guarantee job scheme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), farmers loan waiver, forest bill and mid-day meal scheme.
Asked during the interactive session on what he will do for Dalits now when Congress could not do so in last so many decades in spite of being in power in the Centre, Gandhi said, "Nobody did as much for Dalits as Indira Gandhi did in the last 60 years."
He, however, maintained that this division of people -- Dalits, OBCs and other categories -- did not appeal to him.
Gandhi asked the party workers the names of five top Dalit leaders below 40 years from Bihar, UP and the rest of the country.
Not getting any answers, he said this was because people from the Dalit community, backwards and poor are not allowed to develop as leaders from the grassroots level.
"The route to politics is closed for one who is poor, Dalit and has no kin in politics," he said.
Gandhi said none of the parties present in the state --BJP, BSP and SP -- have done anything for the people as compared to the initiatives undertaken by NSUI and Youth Congress to develop genuine leadership.
"Youth join us because we empower them. We did this in Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Bihar. You choose your leaders, we will not impose leaders on you," he said. You participate in our organisational elections. We will give you training after you win and then promote you in politics," the Congress leader said.
"We want maximum youths to join politics. Youths are generally ignored when it comes to empowering them and nomination culture takes over. But we want to change it. This is an attempt to change nomination system through holding organisational elections," Gandhi said.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi had addressed party workers in Bettiah and Darbhanga and will address more of them in Bhagalpur, Kishanganj and Patna on Tuesday.
Special interactions with party workers belonging to the Scheduled Castes and minorities, the two core constituencies of Congress, have also been organised during Gandhi's visit to the state, where Congress has not been in power since over two decades.
The interaction with the SC workers here also assumes significance in light of the fact that both Bodhgaya assembly segment as well as Gaya Parliamentary seat fall in reserved categories, with the SCs constituting a substantive chunk of voters.