Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has hinted at the Maharashtra caste census next after the Congress-led Telangana government kicked off the survey in the state on Saturday.
“Soon this will happen in Maharashtra also,” the former Congress chief said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The Maharashtra Assembly election will take place in a single phase on November 20 and counting on November 23.
Gandhi said the party will use the data obtained from the Telangana caste census to formulate policies for the development of every section of the state.
“Modi ji, caste census has started in Telangana from today. We will use the data obtained from this to formulate policies for the development of every section of the state,” he said.
“Everyone knows that the BJP does not want to conduct a comprehensive caste census in the country,” said Gandhi.
Challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said Modi cannot stop the caste census across the country. “We will pass the caste census in this parliament and break the wall of 50% on reservation,” he said.
Earlier today in a post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh announced that the Telangana government will kick off its long-awaited caste-based survey on Saturday and called it a historic and revolutionary moment for the state.
“The Congress Government in Telangana will begin its caste-based survey today. 80,000 enumerators will be going door to door over the next few weeks, covering over 1.17 crore households across 33 districts,” he said.
Ramesh said this is the first time a caste-based survey will be conducted by the government in Telangana since 1931. “It is a historic, revolutionary moment – one that is a realization of the Telangana Movement’s aspirations for the state and a fulfilment of one of the key ideals of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution,” he added.
“It is also, as Rahul Gandhi noted in Hyderabad earlier this week, a blueprint for the national caste census that the INDIA coalition’s Government will conduct. This census, and the lifting of the Supreme Court’s arbitrary ceiling of 50 per cent on reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes are central to @INCIndia’s vision for the country,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh said the party is committed to the idea of social, political, and economic justice in India, as laid out in “our Constitution and as envisioned by India’s founding fathers”.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gandhi attended a meeting on the caste census at the Gandhian Ideology Centre in Telangana’s Bowenpally. Congress leader Dr Kota Neelima spoke about the significance of the meeting.
Telangana Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar provided details about the caste survey, which is being conducted for the first time in Telangana.
In October, Prabhakar announced that a comprehensive caste survey would take place in Telangana from November 6 to November 30. The enumerators will conduct the survey by visiting houses from November 9, he said.