Bhupalpally: Describing the need for caste census in India, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday assured the people of Telangana that his party will conduct a caste census in the state once voted to power.
Rahul Gandhi, who was campaigning in Telangana for the second day, said the caste census will be like an X-ray that will determine if the population of backward classes is only five percent in the country.
“OBCs have control of only five percent of India's budget. I want to ask if the OBC population in the country is only five percent,” he asked.
Addressing corner meetings during Vijayabheri Yatra in Bhupalpally district, he described caste census as the biggest issue in the country and questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on the issue.
The Congress leader also said that the party has already ordered a caste census in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Karnataka.
“If our party comes to power in Telangana, the first thing we will do here will be Telangana’s X-ray,” he said and promised that Congress will provide a government for the poor, farmers, and workers.
Rahul Gandhi said that the ‘X-ray’ will also reveal how much money of people of Telangana was looted by the family of the Chief Minister.
The Congress MP stated that Telangana has the highest corruption among all states in the country and remarked that the Telangana model of corruption is being exported to other states.
He said during the movement for Telangana state people had hoped that the new state would usher in people’s rule but after the formation of the state Chief Minister distanced himself from the people.
"You had the dream of people’s rule but you found one family ruling you,” he said.
He said if CM KCR was really fighting against the BJP, why there was no inquiry by CBI, ED, or any other central agency against him.
“BJP intimidates opposition with cases. Since I fight the BJP, they booked 24 cases against me. They cancelled my Lok Sabha membership and snatched my house. It makes no difference to me. My fight is an ideological fight against the BJP and the RSS,” he said.
Stating that the next month’s assembly election is a fight between ‘raja’ and ‘praja’, he predicted that BRS will be defeated in the elections.
He reiterated that BRS, BJP, and AIMIM are together and alleged that BRS extended support to the BJP in Parliament on all issues.
With inputs from IANS