'Not organised by govt...playing with innocent Hindus': Rahul Gandhi gets slammed for no Dalit, OBC 'Miss India' comment

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fact-checked Rahul Gandhi, who on Saturday claimed that no Dalit, tribal, or OBC has ever become the Miss India.

Addressing a 'Samvidhan Samman Sammelan' in Prayagraj, Gandhi said he has checked the list of Miss India, which did not have any Dalit, Adivasi (tribal) or OBC women. "Some will talk about cricket or Bollywood. No one will show the cobbler or plumber. Even top anchors in the media are not from the 90 per cent."

Hours after this, Dr.B.L.Sreenivas Solanky, National Executive Member of BJP's Yuva Morcha, said in 2022, Riya Ekka, from tribal district of Chhattisgarh's Jashpur earned the Miss India title through her talent and perseverance. "No-one insults our BC communities more than RaGa!"

BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari also shared a video of Ekka, saying just 2 years back, a tribal girl from Chhattisgarh won the Miss India title. "Rahul Gandhi's plan is divisive and it's full of  falsehood," he said. 

While the saffron party responded to the charges, some netizens slammed Gandhi, charging him that he was dividing the 'innocent Hindus'. 

Kanishka Dadhich, a social media user, said that Miss India competition is not organised by the Government of India and that demanding reservation in such competitions is "hogwash". "Mr. Gandhy is playing with the emotions of innocent HINDUS to provoke them."

On Saturday, Gandhi said that the BJP might say that he was trying to divide the country with his demand of a caste census. "We want to now how many in institutions, corporates, Bollywood, Miss India are from the 90 per cent. I am only saying that 90 per cent did not have 'bhagidari' and this should be checked," he said. 

Rajesh Balwant Phadke, another social media user, said that it just highlighted the failure of Congress post-Independence in bringing equality. "Why did Jawaharlal, Indira, Rajiv, Sonia not ensure that there was/ is equal opportunity India ensuring we had dalit or tribal Miss India? Again discrimination against minorities. No Miss India."