Caste Census Will Change Development Paradigm In Country: Rahul Gandhi
Patna, April 7: Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi today said that the ‘caste census’ will change the paradigm of development in the country and help in breaking the monopoly of a select few over everything. He maintained that the ‘caste census’ is like the social X-Ray that will reveal everything that ails the system.
Addressing the ‘Samvidhan Surakhsha Sammelan’ here today, the senior Congress leader said that the Constitution of the Country is not just a 75-year-old document, it carries thousands-year-old idea of India.
He said, it carries the ideas of great men of truth. He pointed out, when Mahatma Gandhi wrote his autobiography, he did not write, “My Experiments with Life”, but he wrote, “My Experiments with Truth”. He said, Savarkar’s ideas cannot be part of the Constitution as he could not stand for truth.
At the same time, he remarked, it is not easy to speak truth in India right now and many senior political leaders had preferred not to speak the truth.
Reaffirming his commitment to carry out the ‘caste census’ in the country, Rahul Gandhi said, it will change the paradigm of development. Quoting the example of Telangana, where the Congress government has already carried out a caste census, he said, it had revealed sensational details.
He disclosed that the Telangana caste census revealed that none of those who had taken bank loans was an OBC, EBC, Dalit or Adivasi. He revealed that none of the owners or CEOs of top corporate houses was an OBC, EBC, Dalit, Ati-Dalit, Adivasi. “There is zero percent representation”, he said, while remarking, “if you are not from the upper caste, the system will be against you”.
Gandhi narrated the story of a cobbler from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Chet Ram, who was working for forty years in his shop but was not able to get a bank loan to expand his business. He disclosed that when he arranged a machine for him, Chet Ram opened another shop, suggesting that there were talented people but were not getting proper support and opportunities to grow.
Stating that people like RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat were against the caste census, Gandhi said, the twenty-first century is the age of data and in Telangana, the government has complete caste data in its hands with which it can change the whole politics of the state. “What truly belongs to you, we can rightfully give you through caste census”, he told people, while asserting that, leave aside RSS and the BJP, no power on earth can stop the caste census.
Spelling out the role of Congress and the alliance in Bihar, he said, they will take along the poor, the weak, EBC, OBC, Dalit, Maha-Dalit, poor general caste. “We will give them respect and dignity and take everyone along to move forward”, he said, while admitting that what needed to be done by the Congress party in Bihar was not done earlier.
Referring to the recently announced list of the Congress District presidents in Bihar, he said, in the past two-thirds of them belonged to upper castes, but now two-thirds are from the EBC, OBC, Dalit and the minority communities.
Praising the political consciousness of people of Bihar, he said, Bihar has always provided direction to the country, not only now, but even during the British period and political change had always started from here.
