Shajapur: Congress leader and MP Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday raised a strong pitch for caste census claiming that 50 percent of the members belonging to the OBC category were not getting their due rights and representation in the country saying that Congress will conduct caste census if voted to power.
The Congress MP was addressing a public rally at Polaikalan in Kalapipal assembly constituency of Shajapur district of poll bound Madhya Pradesh. While addressing the rally, Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of Caste Census and said that the members of the community were “not getting their due rights”. Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress MP said that the BJP government at the Centre “does not work for Dalits and OBCs as well as tribals”.
“PM Modi is killing the rights of these people. No one in the country knows how much OBC population is there in the country. It is important to find out how many OBCs there are. For this, Congress party will work like X-ray and will find out the exact number of people (belonging to the OBC category. After this people will be given their due rights,” Rahul Gandhi said while upping the ante on the caste census in the country.
Also read: Why PM afraid of caste census: Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi alleged that Modi government “knows the number of people of people of which caste are in the country”. “But due to fear of participation, they do not present the correct data to the people. They silence people. For this reason they are avoiding this issue. It is our pledge that the Congress government will tell the people how many people belong to which caste,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi said that Kamal Nath government had provided reservation to 27 percent OBCs in MP “but it was canceled as soon as the BJP government was formed” in the state. Rahul Gandhi said that of the 90 secretaries, only three are OBCs. “These three officers should tell today why they do not have full participation in decision making and budget? Instead of giving participation to the OBC category, only 5% of the government officials decide the budget,” he said.
Regarding Women's Reservation Bill, Rahul Gandhi said, "I demanded deletion of two lines. They have kept two conditions of census and delimitation. In such a situation, it will take 10 years to implement women's reservation bill,” he said. “I said that why there is no OBC reservation in women's reservation. On one hand, PM Modi says that he is working for OBCs. But the entire BJP is silent on the issue of reservation for OBC women," he alleged.
