Caste census foundation for progress: Rahul

Hyderabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he is fully committed to ensuring caste census in Telangana and in making the state a model for caste census in the country.

Addressing a Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee meeting here, ahead of the commencement of caste survey from November 6 by the state government, Rahul Gandhi said 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.”

Taking potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said he wondered why the PM has not publicly said that he wanted to challenge the idea of discrimination in India. "Why is the PM scared of asking how many Dalits, OBCs, and Adivasis are there in corporates, judiciary, media," he asked. He said he has committed in Parliament on behalf of Congress to conduct a national caste census.

He said the caste census would be a framework of progress and development of the entire nation.

“I am sure there may be some shortcomings in the caste census in Telangana. We will try to iron out those shortcomings. I would like this to be a conversation between civil society, the people of Telangana and the government of Telangana,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi stressed that the caste census does not end up being another bureaucratic exercise and bureaucrats should not be the one who will prepare the questionnaire. It should be the Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis who will be deciding on what type of questions to ask in the questionnaire. Highlighting how caste discrimination impacted the progress of the country, he held that it was deeply entrenched in society like the iceberg. Only 10 percent of it is visible and the rest inside the water, he said.

“Those who built the Titanic were boastful of its massive size and self-satisfied about its unsinkability. But after it hit the iceberg, within 20 minutes it sunk in deep ocean. Similarly, caste discrimination is deep-rooted and strong in India,” he said.

“The moment I say this the people in BJP, the leaders and Prime Minister suddenly start to say that I am dividing the country. Revealing the truth cannot divide the country. All we are saying is let us explore the truth,” he said.