Bareilly (UP): A court here has summoned Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on January 7 for his remarks related to the Economic Survey during the Lok Sabha polls.
District and Sessions Judge Sudhir Kumar on Saturday issued notice to Gandhi.
The summons are related to a plea filed by Pankaj Pathak, Mandal president of the All India Hindu Mahasangh outfit.
“We felt that the statement given by Rahul Gandhi during the elections on caste census was like an attempt to start a civil war in the country…We first filed a case against him in MP-MLA court which was dismissed. After that we went to the District Judge Court, our appeal was accepted there and a notice was issued to Rahul Gandhi. The date in the notice is for January 7,” said petitioner Pankaj Pathak.
During the Lok Sabha election campaign in Hyderabad, Gandhi said that the Congress, if voted to power, would conduct a financial and institutional survey to ascertain the distribution of wealth among the people in the country.
Addressing a rally, he said the survey will be conducted apart from a nationwide caste census that the party has promised if voted to power, drawing sharp criticism from the BJP and allies.
“We will first conduct a nationwide caste census to determine how many people belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and minorities. After that, we will conduct a financial and institutional survey in a historic step to ascertain the distribution of wealth,” he said.
The BJP slammed the Congress leader, alleging its intent to redistribute wealth based on the promise of a “nation-wide socio-economic and caste census”. The party leaders linked the Congress promise to a 2006 statement by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, suggesting that the Congress, if elected, would redistribute wealth to Muslims.
