Rahul welcomes govt's 'sudden' caste census decision, wants timeline for its implementation

New Delhi, Apr 30 (PTI) Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he welcomes the government's "sudden" decision to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census after "11 years of opposing it" but asserted that the Centre should give a timeline for its implementation.

Crediting the sustained campaign run by the Congress for the government's announcement on the caste census, Gandhi said his immediate suspicion is that this could go the women's bill way in terms of implementation and demanded a specific date for it.

Asserting that having "successfully pressured" the government to conduct a caste census, Gandhi said the Congress will break the "barrier" of 50 per cent cap on reservations and demand the implementation of Article 15(5), which pertains to reservations in private educational institutions.

"We urge the government to implement it (Article 15(5) promptly," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha added.

Gandhi said the Congress is absolutely convinced that the caste census is the first step of a completely new development paradigm in the country, and we are going to push this paradigm one way or the other.

"It doesn't matter what the BJP thinks. We have shown that we can pressure the BJP into doing the caste census," Gandhi said at a press conference flanked by Congress general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera AICC national coordinator SC, ST, OBC and Minorities department K Raju and OBC department head Anil Jaihind.

Noting that the Congress has been advocating for conducting a nationwide caste census for some time, Gandhi said the government had previously opposed it for 11 years, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to say there are only four castes, but "suddenly" decided to announce this.

"We wholeheartedly welcome this decision but demand a clear implementation timeline," Gandhi asserted, demanding an announcement of a date and also budget allocation for it.

Asked if the timing of the decision was related to the Bihar Assembly polls, Gandhi said, "No, I don't think so. I don't think that is why this decision has been taken in a hurry. I don't need to comment when they took it, how they took it, now they have taken it. We are happy that they have taken it, and now this needs to be taken forward." Refusing to speculate on the timing of the government's decision, Gandhi said he is interested in how this census will be done, as if one does not ask relevant questions, it would turn out to be meaningless.

"We want an open census where you ask all stakeholders how it is to be done, he added.

Gandhi claimed that Telangana serves as a model state for caste census and stressed that it should be a people's census, not a bureaucrats' census.

Gandhi said, having successfully conducted a comprehensive caste census in the state, "We suggest the national census incorporate some of its effective approaches".

He offered the government help in designing the caste census, asserting that the design is very important.

There is a model of Bihar and Telangana in conducting the caste census, but there is a huge difference between them, he said.

He said the caste census is the first step, and the central question that it will answer is what is the share of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs.

"But, we have to go beyond that. We need to know their participation in institutions and in the power structure, that is the next step.

"Having successfully pressured the government to conduct a caste census, we'll continue to push for and put pressure on the government to remove the 50 per cent cap. Additionally, we demand the implementation of Article 15(5), which pertains to reservations in private educational institutions, a law that already exists. We urge the government to implement it promptly," he said.

Gandhi said he is very proud of every Congress member, worker, and every single person who has fought for the caste census.

He said the Congress ran a grassroots campaign for the caste census across the country, the result of which is this decision of the government.

"Caste census is the first step, it is a way to open the door. After that, the work of development will start. According to the information we are getting fromthe caste survey in Telangana, you will not find people from Dalit, OBC and Adivasi communities in management or higher positions in the corporate structure. That means 90 per cent of India has no participation there," he said.

"But if you look at the list of gig workers, you will find people from Dalit, OBC and tribal categories in it. That means two types of streams are being created in the country. One is wages, poverty, unemployment, where people from Dalit, OBC and tribal classes are included. On the other hand, there are some elite people in the second stream, including Ambani-Adani, who are controlling the entire system," he said.

In such a situation, the first step to change this entire process is a caste census, Gandhi added.

"We had said in Parliament that we will not rest until we get the caste census done and we will also break the wall of 50 per cent limit on reservation," he said.

Earlier, Narendra Modi used to say that there are only four castes, but suddenly he announced that caste census would be conducted, Gandhi said.

His comments came within hours of the government announcing that caste enumeration would be included in the forthcoming census exercise in a "transparent" manner. PTI ASK/SKC RHL

Source: PTI