Job security needed not 'racial purity' Rahul Gandhi censures Modi govt

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader on Tuesday hit out at the Culture Ministry's plan to study 'racial purity', Reacting to a news report on the same. He criticized the Modi government's priorities and said that right now India needs job security and economic prosperity.

Gandhi tagged a news report by The New Indian Express titled 'Culture Ministry to Study Racial Purity of Indians' and wrote in a tweet, "The last time a country had a culture ministry studying 'racial purity', it didn't end well. India wants job security & economic prosperity, not 'racial purity', Prime Minister."

Tasked with preservation and promotion of art and culture of India, the Ministry of Culture has recently said in a news report that it is in the process of acquiring an array of DNA profiling kits and associated state-of-the-art machines for establishing the genetic history and "trace the purity of races in India".

This remark by Gandhi comes at a time when Congress and BJP leaders are debating racial belonging, in the backdrop of growing Aryan-Dravidian discussion in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently in his speech on the death anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, asked if the RSS originated in India and whether it was an Aryan or a Dravidian organization.

The MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government is projecting itself as a reflection of Dravidian culture and sentiments against the "BJP's Aryan invasion".