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Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday, met the family of 'Mountain Man' Dashrath Manjhi in Bihar's Gaya district.
After meeting the Congress MP, Manjhi's granddaughter Anshu Kumari told ANI that Rahul Gandhi talked about Dashrath Manjhi's struggle after his wife died while crossing a mountain. "Rahul Gandhi came here today. He said many people come here, so I felt like coming too. He came here to see how Baba's (Dashrath Manjhi) house is and how he dug up the mountain. He also talks about it... Then we tell him about our condition. We told him how my grandmother fell while crossing the mountain and died," Anshu Kumari said. The Mountain Man lived in Gehlaur village, near Gaya. As per the Bihar Government, Manjhi carved a path 110 m long (360 ft), 9.1 m (30 ft) wide and 7.7 m (25 ft) deep through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and chisel. After 22 years of work, Dashrath shortened the travel between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km. He breathed his last on August 17, 2007, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. The Government of Bihar gave him a state funeral, proposed his name for the Padma Shri award in 2006 in the social service sector and released a stamp by the India Post in the 'Personalities of Bihar' series on December 26, 2016. On Friday, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi attended the 'Samvidhan Sabha' in Rajgir, Nalanda. Addressing the gathering, Gandhi emphasised the need for a caste census and criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stance on the issue. He questioned PM Modi's claim of being an OBC while asserting that the BJP denies the existence of caste in India, emphasising the need for a genuine caste census. "Narendra Modi used to say in every speech, I am OBC. Then, on the caste census, they say that there is no caste in India. If there is no caste in India, then how did Narendra Modi become an OBC? My goal is to conduct a caste census. I had said this to Narendra Modi face to face in Lok Sabha - there will be a caste census, and you know he has a habit of surrendering," Rahul Gandhi posted on Congress X handle. (ANI)
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