NEW DELHI, India— Rahul Gandhi, a senior Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, praised the Telangana government’s caste survey on Thursday. He said it has established a new standard for a nationwide caste census and is a “milestone for social justice” in India.
At a gathering of party MPs and leaders at Indira Bhavan, the new AICC office in New Delhi, Gandhi congratulated Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and other state Congress leaders for “exceeding expectations.” Gandhi said, “They did the caste census well and in the right spirit.” He called it “an inspiration for the whole nation.”
CM Revanth Reddy gave a detailed PowerPoint presentation about the Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, and Political Caste Survey (SEEEPC) that was done in Telangana during the meeting. He told party MPs to put pressure on the Central government to accept two measures that the Telangana assembly passed. These bills will give Other Backward Classes (OBCs) 42% of the seats in education, jobs, and local administration. The Center has received these bills for approval.
Rahul Gandhi said that the Telangana Congress leaders showed a “level of competence” that was “a milestone for social justice in the country.” No matter what the BJP thinks, this will be the benchmark for a nationwide caste census. He pointed out that the administration of Telangana completed a thorough “door-to-door survey with 55 questions at the field level.” He admitted that this was “no easy task,” but they did it very well. It is now a model for the whole country to do a caste census like this.
Gandhi also said that the BJP-led Central government wasn’t serious about doing a proper caste census, saying, “That party doesn’t want to show the real picture of the country.” He also talked about how important English-language education is for societal progress and told BJP officials who want to get rid of English to think about how it affects their own kids’ education.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress party, said the same thing as Gandhi on X: “Congress party’s Social Justice 2.0—a new movement for social justice, equity, and empowerment of the weaker sections has begun in Telangana.” He talked about how the Congress is “unwaveringly fighting” for justice and spoke up for SC, ST, OBC, and EWS populations, which he said have been ignored even though they make up a large part of India’s population. Kharge pointed out how obvious it is that these groups are missing from top business boards, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, and elite universities. He used statistics from Parliament to show that there are a lot of open positions for OBC and ST professors in Central universities.
Kharge said again that there should be a caste census across the country and that the “arbitrary 50% cap on reservations” should be lifted. He said that the NDA administration had agreed to do a caste survey under pressure, but it had not lifted the cap. He said that “the scientific way that Telangana has done its survey should be an example for the whole country.”
CM Revanth Reddy said in his speech that the SEEEPC survey produced more than 88 crore pages of data. According to the survey, OBCs make up 56.36% of the population of Telangana. It’s interesting to note that 3.9% of those who answered said they don’t belong to any caste. This is a “first in Telangana,” and the majority of them said they were well-educated and spoke English.
The Telangana legislature passed the two legislation for 42% reservations based on these results. Now, they are seeking for the Centre’s permission. Revanth Reddy told Congress MPs to push for its passage in Parliament. He also called February 4, the day the survey started, “Social Justice Day” in Telangana and said the survey was a “RARE (Rahul Gandhi-Revanth Reddy) model.” Reddy said that he and his ministers are ready to demonstrate at Jantar Mantar if they have to, but he wants Congress MPs to support the cause in Parliament.