Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday announced that if elected to power in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, his party would conduct a “caste census” as only such an exercise would ensure “participation of OBCs, Dalits, tribals and women”.
He also sought to know from the Narendra Modi Government as to why the Centre has not released the details of a “caste census” conducted by the Congress (when it was in power) and sought to know if the Prime Minister is afraid of such an exercise.
Advocating fervently for the caste census, a measure the party has adopted in anticipation of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, Rahul emphasised that such a census serves as a metaphorical X-ray of Hindustan, laying bare the genuine strength of OBCs, SCs, Dalits, STs, women, and the general category within the nation.
He asserted that with this data at hand, the country can progress inclusively, ensuring that all segments are considered and receive their due share to contribute to the nation's growth.
“The Congress had conducted a caste census that has the record of the population of every caste in the country. The Union Government has this report but Modi doesn't want to reveal it. Caste census has to be conducted if we want to give participation to OBC, Dalits, tribals and women.
“If the PM does not conduct a caste census, then when we are elected to power our first step will be to conduct a caste census to ensure OBC participation,” Rahul said in his address at a Chhattisgarh Government event in Bilaspur.
Rahul also raked up the issue of bureaucracy and said the NDA Government is run by Secretaries and Cabinet Secretaries and not MPs and MLAs, and yet only three of the 90 Secretaries in various Union Government Ministries are OBCs.
“These three persons control only 5 per cent of the country's budget,” Rahul said and questioned if India only had 5 per cent OBC population.
He had raised the same issue in a debate on Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha.
The Lok Sabha MP also waved a remote control at the crowd and said the poor and needy were benefited when the Congress presses it, while “Adani gets ports, airports and railway contracts” when the ruling BJP does the same.
At the event, during which he launched the Bhupesh Baghel Government's “Gramin Awas Nyay Yojna” aimed at providing financial assistance to the homeless and families having kutcha houses in rural areas, the Gandhi scion brandished a remote control to target the Modi Government.