The Congress is likely to replicate the Bihar model of Caste census in all the four States governed by the party now and would also urge the Jharkhand Government to follow suit where the grand old party is in a coalition Government.
The Congress has been pushing for a caste census across the country and is making it a poll issue.
A nationwide caste census is a key agenda of the opposition INDIA Bloc, which believes it will help the alliance in the forthcoming elections in the Hindi heartland where caste politics plays a key role.
Ahead of the Assembly polls next month, the Ashok Gehlot led Congress Government in Rajasthan has already issued an order for the conduct of a caste survey in the State. Rajasthan will be the second State in the country to conduct such a population count.
The decision is on the table for discussion in the party’s top decision making body Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Monday convened to deliberate on the current political situation, caste census and further firm up the strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections in five States.
Currently, the Congress enjoys a full majority in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and holds a stake in the Governments of Bihar and Jharkhand.
The CWC meet comes at a time when some Opposition leaders owing allegiance to INDIA Bloc are facing heat from Central agencies.
The latest in the series of arrests is that of AAP leader Sanjay Singh in the Delhi excise policy case and the Congress top leadership will have to take a call on extending support to him and others being targeted by the Government.
The meeting of the top decision making body of the Congress comes just over three weeks after the first meeting of the reconstituted CWC was held in Hyderabad last month to evolve a strategy for the Assembly polls in five States and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The party is seeking to retain power in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, while hoping to wrest power from the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, BRS in Telangana and the Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram. In the last Assembly polls, the Congress emerged victorious in MP and had a stable Government led by Kamal Nath for one-and-a-half years until a faction breakaway supported the BJP to form the Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government.
The Congress on Sunday questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of caste census and asked why the BJP ruled States were not conducting them to ensure social justice and rights.
The party’s remarks come a day after the Gehlot Government issued an order for the conduct of a caste survey in Rajasthan.
Congress chief spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said when the Bharat Jodo Yatra was in Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi had met delegations of many communities and during that time OBC delegations had specifically raised the demand for a caste census.
“The question is why such initiatives are not being taken in any BJP ruled State and why is the Prime Minister silent on the issue of caste census,” Ramesh asked.
According to the Rajasthan Government order, issued by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment after the State Cabinet’s nod, the administration will conduct the survey with its own resources for collecting information and figures related to social, economic and educational level of all its citizens.
“We will conduct a survey. The order for this will be released immediately. It will be a survey. Census is done by the Government of India. It cannot be done by the State Government.
“This will be a survey of families to know their economic situation. This is our party’s commitment that we are taking forward,” Gehlot briefed the media.
He also said conducting such a survey takes time.
“It took one-and-a-half years in Bihar. We have taken a decision for a survey, which is a big thing.
“AICC (All India Congress Committee) in its Raipur convention had made a decision and we are taking it forward. We want that the economic status of every family should be known so that they get the benefits of government schemes in the future,” he said.
Gehlot said Rajasthan will follow the model of Bihar.
On October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar released the findings of its caste survey, which revealed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constituted a whopping 63 per cent of the State’s total population.