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.
The Congress leader made it clear that he does not want a bureaucratic caste census. “We do not want some bureaucrats sitting somewhere to decide the questions to be asked in caste census. This will be an insult to the people. We want people to decide what questions to be asked,” he said.
Admitting that there will be some shortcomings in the caste census in Telangana, he assured that they would try and iron out those shortcomings. “I would like this to be a conversation between civil society, the people of Telangana and the government of Telangana. We want to develop a framework of progress, framework of development for the entire nation and Telangana is the first step in this direction.”
Stating that caste discrimination exists everywhere, Rahul Gandhi remarked that it destroys people’s lives every day, and destroys their career, confidence, and belief in the system.
“I am not saying something very controversial. I am just saying everybody accepts that there is caste discrimination in this country. Let us now find out the true extent of the problem.”
“The moment I say this, the people in BJP, the leaders of the BJP, the Prime Minister suddenly start to say that I am dividing the country,” he said and asked since when revealing the truth of this country became dividing the country.
“All we are saying is, let us explore the truth. First of all, let us find out how many Dalits, how many OBCs, how many Adivasis, how many minorities, how many general castes, and how many women are there in this country. After that let us find out wealth is distributed in this country. What share of wealth do Dalits have, what share of wealth OBCs have, and what share of wealth do women have? Let us find this out,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“Let us find out how many poor general caste people are there, let us ask ourselves the question how many Dalits are there in corporate companies, how many OBCs are sitting in top 500 companies of this country? How many Dalits, OBCs, and Adivasis are there in the judicial system, and how many are there in our forces? Let us ask. Why are we scared of asking this question?” he wondered.
The Congress leader remarked that the only people who can resist asking this question are the people who are hiding the truth and who do not want the people of India to know the truth about discrimination. Those would be the people who benefit from discrimination.
Rahul Gandhi mentioned that one of the top experts on equality told him that India is one of the most unequal countries on the planet. “He gave me a presentation on how India is one of the most unequal societies on the planet. I told him your analysis does not even include the single biggest discriminator in the society which is called caste. In fact, your analysis hugely underestimates inequality in Indian society.”
Inequality is something entirely different when you have a caste system in this country, the Congress leader averred. “A Dalit person in India could not be touched. Do you realise the level of inequality that a person would feel if society is not allowed to touch him? This does not exist anywhere else. So what we have to understand is that discrimination in India is unique and probably among the worst in the world,” he lamented.
Rahul Gandhi said as a politician he was accountable to people. “When I speak of caste census I speak as a result of that accountability to the people of India. I simply cannot go to the people of India and ignore the fact that there is massive discrimination in this country. I cannot lie to Dalits, adivasis, minorities and women that this country is fair to you. Other people may be able to lie about it but I can’t lie,” he added.
He compared caste discrimination to an invisible iceberg like the one that was responsible for the sinking of the Titanic in the Arctic Ocean.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President B. Mahesh Kumar Goud, AICC in-charge for Telangana Deepadas Munshi, state ministers and senior leaders were present.