Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday renewed his call for a nationwide caste census and pointed out the lack of representation of women from Dalit, Tribal, or Other Backward Classes communities in the “Miss India pageant list.”
Addressing a gathering at the Samvidhan Samman Sammelan in Prayagraj, Gandhi said, “I checked the list of Miss India to see if there would be any Dalit or tribal woman in it, but there was no women from Dalit, tribal or OBC.”
He criticised the media for being unconcerned about farmers and labourers and said, “Still the media talks about dance, music, cricket, Bollywood but does not talk about farmers and labourers.”
He further asserted that when Congress will form government it will conduct a caste census and remove the 50 per cent cap on the reservation.
“We will conduct a caste census and the 50 per cent cap on the reservation which I don’t accept will be removed…First, we should have the data before us regarding the participation of different castes in various institutions…Talks of reservation are always held but they never get a chance,” he said.
Taking a dig at Narendra Modi-led Central government over its recent lateral entry advertisement saying, “Lateral entry ho jati hai, main aapko guarantee de raha hun lateral entry mein 90 per cent wala aapko koi nahi milega (I am guaranteeing you that you will not find anyone with from the 90 per cent in lateral entry) ,” he said.
Gandhi said that the INDIA alliance is calling for a caste census because 90 per cent of the population is being excluded despite possessing the necessary skills and talent.
“90 per cent of the people are not a part of the system. They have the required skill, talent but they are not connected with the system. That’s why we are demanding for a caste census.”
He added that the caste census is foundationa for policy-making for the Congress and INDIA alliance.
“BJP leaders are saying that an OBC section will be given after caste census…We want the list of different communities. For us caste census is not just a census, it is a foundation for policy making…Just conducting a caste census is not enough, it is also important to understand how the wealth is being distributed…It is also important to find out how much is the participation of OBCs, Dalits, workers in the bureaucracy, judiciary, media?” he said.