New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday praised Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for successfully conducting the caste census and said the next step is to use that data to transform lives. He called the survey a landmark in the national push for social justice and urged the party to break the 50% cap on reservations in Parliament.
Addressing party MPs at the AICC headquarters in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi presented data from the Telangana caste census, which included socio-economic and political metrics. He said this had enabled the introduction of bills granting 42% reservations to Backward Classes in local body elections. He accused the Centre of obstructing the bills after they were sent for presidential assent.
He said it was now the Congress party’s duty to make the public aware of both Telangana’s achievements and the Modi government’s resistance. The state’s implementation of caste enumeration, led by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, was exemplary, he said. Rahul Gandhi also credited Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for his support, without which the exercise would not have been possible.
He described the Telangana survey as a model for national enumeration – carried out in the open with broad community consultation and based on 56 detailed questions. Teams visited every household to collect comprehensive socio-economic data, he said.
Rahul Gandhi admitted initial doubts about the feasibility of the survey, given possible resistance from Revanth Reddy’s own social group, but said the Telangana leadership exceeded expectations. He said the process had now defined what a true caste census should look like in India.
Addressing the broader Congress organisation, Rahul Gandhi urged the party to respond to OBC issues with the same urgency it shows for SC, ST, and women’s concerns. Failure to do so, he said, had created space for the BJP. The party must convince every social group that Congress represents their interests with integrity, he said.
He added that opposition criticism of the survey was welcome and that the Telangana government had created a platform for those who wished to challenge or update their data.
