It was Rahul Gandhi who championed the caste count, which the Centre has announced will be part of the next census, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar told NDTV.
Earlier this week, in a major policy shift, the BJP-led Central government announced that the next decadal census will include caste enumeration for the first time since Independence.
“It is the Congress party’s brainchild. It is Rahul Gandhi who pitched this. Because he feels that social justice should be given to all sections of the society. So he has made it very clear in the manifesto and many other places that it is the need of this present generation. Particularly those communities that have been affected. Because he has walked the streets of this country from Kanniyakumari to Kashmir,” Mr Shivakumar said.
The BJP, though, disagrees with the Congress claims – especially the one that caste census was their long-standing demand.
While making the announcement on Wednesday, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Congress always opposed a caste census and the category was never included in censuses since Independence.
Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana have already conducted a caste census in their respective states. Telangana has also implemented a 42 per cent backwards class reservation for people in the state.
Karnataka became the second Congress-ruled state after Telangana when the Karnataka State Commission for Backwards Classes submitted the caste census (socio, economic and educational survey) report to the Siddaramaiah-led cabinet.
“So he (Rahul Gandhi) raised his voice. He had advised Karnataka and Telangana government and all to take up this issue. He was a part of the process of these meetings even in Telangana also,” stressed Mr Shivakumar, Congress’ chief troubleshooter in the state.
Pressed to answer if demands for increased reservations, in the wake of caste census, from other communities, especially in the private sector, will hurt ‘Brand Bengaluru’, Mr Shivakumar said, “It is a different ballgame in the private sector. First, from the government sector, we should decide who should get what based on their population. The reservation should be there. Though Babasaheb Ambedkar had out a time frame for it. But ultimately it went on. First, let this stage be there. Let us not hurry towards that immediately. Let this procedure go.”
“I am so happy at least now the BJP government has opened its eyes. And years after Rahul Gandhi shouting on this. Then they said yes, this is the need of the hour,” the Deputy Chief Minister added.
Soon after the government announced the caste census, Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, welcomed the decision, and stressed the need for a clear timeline.
“We had said in the Parliament that we will make the caste census happen. We had also said that we would scrap the 50% cap, the artificial wall that is in place. Narendra Modi used to say that there are just four castes. Don’t know what happened, but suddenly after 11 years, caste census has been announced,” Mr Gandhi said this week.
“We completely support it, but we want a timeline. We want to know by when this will happen. This is the first step. Telangana has become a model in the caste census, and it can become a blueprint. We offer our support to the government in designing the caste census…There are two examples – Bihar’s and Telangana’s, and there is a vast difference between the two,” he added.