Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, reaffirmed on Tuesday that he is “fully committed” to seeing that Telangana has a caste census and that the state will serve as a model for caste censuses nationwide. The ex-chief of the Congress said he “will demolish artificial barrier of 50% reservations in country,” referring to caste discrimination in India as “unique” and among the worst in the world.
“Caste census is the first process to be taken up to assess the extent and nature of discrimination. So, I am fully committed to ensuring not only the caste census happens in Telangana, but that Telangana becomes a model for the caste census in the country,” news agency quoted Gandhi as saying.
Gandhi added that the caste survey, which the state government will do, might have certain flaws. These will be resolved, though.
Taking potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said,”Why is the PM scared of asking how many Dalits, OBCs, Adivasis are there in corporates, judiciary, media.” Rahul Gandhi said he has committed in Parliament on behalf of Congress to conduct a national caste census.This is not the first time that the Congress MP has voiced his support for the caste census. In August, he had posted on X,”Modiji, if you are thinking of stopping the caste census, you are dreaming – no power can stop it now!”
The Congress pledged in its 2024 Lok Sabha election manifesto to carry out a caste census if it were elected to power at the federal level. In addition to passing a constitutional amendment raising the 50% maximum on reservations for SC, ST, and OBC, the grand old party had stated that it would carry out a national socioeconomic and caste census to list all castes and sub-castes and their socioeconomic circumstances.
