DMK MP A Raja Says Prime Minister Doesn't Have Spine To Answer Opposition's Questions

It was a heated day at the Parliament today. The Government and the Opposition locked horns on several burning issues which directly or indirectly affect the people of the country. After the President's address, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP A Raja slammed the Narendra Modi government over its policies and actions and demanded a caste-based census emphasizing the necessity of equality and inclusivity.

Underlining the importance of caste-based census, A Raja said true integration of Hindus can only be achieved by acknowledging and addressing caste disparities.

"We are all Hindus. I am a Hindu according to the law in the Constitution since I am not a Mohammadan, not a Christian, not a Buddhist, not a Parsi. The law says this is Hindu," Raja explained.

"If you are really worried about the integration of Hindus, you need to have a caste-based census. I want to celebrate my religion as long as you give equal opportunity to everybody," he said.

Sharing the historical context of caste discrimination, he added that "Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar rightly said that Hindu religion is nothing but an assortment of castes. Division of labour is universal to the entire world, but what has been done in our religion is division of labourers by birth. If you are a scavenger, you do it after your father and forefathers. That discrimination must be removed," he said.

Raja accused the ruling party of maintaining the caste system for political gains.

"You want to keep the caste system for your own political gains, which is not acceptable to us. We want to have a Dravidian ideology. Please make it universal for your convenience. Education was prevented by the Manusmriti. Property rights were denied. All these things have to be removed. That is why a caste-based census is very essential if you really want to have an egalitarian society," he said.

Raja criticized the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) system, highlighting its inherent inequalities.

"NEET has opened three windows: merit, management, and payment quota. A person scoring 720 marks gets a merit seat, someone with 680 marks goes for management quota paying ₹10-15 lakh and someone scoring 225 marks pays ₹25 crore for a management quota seat. Isn't this humiliation for someone who scored 650 marks but doesn't have the money to pay for a seat? Merit is being compromised because of our system. We lost 20 seats due to this," he said

He also challenged PM Modi to answer questions raised by the Opposition leaders, which are actually questions of the people of this country from the ruling government.
Furious Raja said Prime Minister doesn't have the spine to face reality and answer the Opposition's questions.