Congress launches 100-day OBC rights campaign demanding nationwide caste census

Congress Working Committee invitee Koppula Raju announced that the party will launch a 100-day campaign for OBC rights across Telangana, with demands centred on an immediate nationwide caste census and the removal of the 50% ceiling on reservations.

Speaking at Gandhi Bhavan alongside Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar and TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud, Raju said the slogan raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra had evolved into a movement. He described Telangana as a "role model" in conducting a scientific caste survey under Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.

Push for nationwide caste census

Raju said the Congress, Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge had been pressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the last five years to conduct a caste census along with the population census. The party now intended to turn the demand into a nationwide movement, he said.

He alleged that while Modi had announced that an OBC caste census would be conducted along with the population census, the Centre had not included an OBC enumeration in the census process. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also stated in Parliament that an OBC caste census would be undertaken along with the family survey, but the relevant forms did not contain a provision for OBC enumeration, Raju claimed.

Telangana's caste survey model

Raju contrasted the Centre's approach with Telangana's caste survey, stating that the State government had consulted OBC caste associations and identified 134 OBC communities. "A proper OBC enumeration was conducted in Telangana," he said.

Source: The Hindu