Congress will push for a nationwide caste census and demand raising the reservation limit to beyond its current 50 per cent, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said Saturday.
Speaking at the ‘Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan’ in Patna, Gandhi, an MP from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, promised to take up both issues in Parliament.
“The Congress party has said before Prime Minister Narendra Modi that it would get caste census approved right in his presence,” Gandhi said in front of representatives from over two dozen voluntary groups working for the cause of the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), Dalits and Muslims who attended the event. “We’ll also break the 50 per cent quota ceiling. Every caste in this country has got to get its share. This is not you or I saying so, but the Constitution, which says everyone is equal”.
While companies are primary beneficiaries of government schemes, caste groups like the EBCs, Dalits and minorities continue to have “negligible representation” in the public and private sectors.
“This is why I am here,” he said. “Once the caste census is done, a policy will be framed to address problems of inadequate representation of caste groups in various fields.”
The MP also targeted Bihar’s caste survey, conducted and released last year. Significantly, the Bihar caste survey was undertaken at a time when the Congress was part of the ruling alliance in the state.
“We won’t do the caste census like in Bihar, which was meant to fool people. We’ll do it so it would tell us the exact share of caste groups in each field,” Gandhi, who previously addressed similar meetings in Ranchi and Lucknow, said.
Gandhi also criticised Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat for his recent comments on the Indian independence movement. Speaking at an event Monday, Bhagwat had said India had achieved “true independence” on the day of consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
“Mohan Bhagwat says Ganga does not originate from Gangotri. He also says that India did not get its independence in 1947. Ye hamare samvidhan ki soch nahi hai (this is not in line with the spirit of our Constitution),” he said.
The Constitution, he said, was “reflective of thinking of thousands of years”. “The Constitution is the reflection of Lord Budha and several other greats of the country. At times I think, the Constitution should be like river Ganga that takes its water everywhere,” he said.
The fight is between “Constitution and Manuvaad”. “There is inequality on one side and hatred and violence on the other side,” Gandhi said, adding that a caste census was the solution to the problem.
Former Rajya Sabha MP and head of All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz Ali Anwar Ansari, who also attended the event, appreciated Gandhi for “for taking on the RSS, Manuvaad and Corporate India — something no one had done”.
Bhagirath Manjhi, son of Dasrath Manjhi, who worked for 22 years to carve a road through the Gaya hills in Bihar and reducing the distance between the district’s Atri and Wazirganj sectors, was also present at the event.
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