Caste census to develop a framework for country’s progress: Rahul Gandhi

Hyderabad, Nov 5: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that a national caste census will develop a framework of progress and the caste census in Telangana would be the first step in this direction.

Asserting that discrimination in India is unique and probably among the worst in the world, the Congress leader said the caste census would help understand the extent of the problem.

Addressing a meeting of Congress leaders and intellectuals here, he said the caste census in Telangana should become a model for caste census in the entire country.

“I committed on behalf of the Congress party in Parliament House that we will carry out a national caste census and we will demolish the artificial barrier of 50 per cent reservation that has been placed. For me, Telangana is the model of national caste census,” he said and thanked the leadership of Telangana for their efforts in this exercise.

“What we are designing here is not a simply caste census what we are designing is the system of governance of the future of this country,” he added.

The LoP asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not challenging the caste discrimination.

“I am still wondering why the Prime Minister has not publicly said that he wants to challenge the idea of discrimination in India. Why has he not said he wants to know how many Dalits are there in corporate India, how many OBCs are there in the judiciary and how many Adivasis are there among media anchors? Why is he scared of asking these questions,” he asked.

Rahul Gandhi was addressing the meeting a day ahead of the launch of a comprehensive door-to-door household survey (socio, educational, economic, employment, political, and caste survey) of the entire state.