Rahul Gandhi has promised to conduct a caste based census across the country if Congress forms a government at the centre. He also promised to remove the current 50% cap on reservation.
Rahul’s promises
Rahul Gandhi is doing the Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra from Manipur to Mumbai ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The yatra reached Jharkhand yesterday, 7 February. During this he addressed the public in which he promised to conduct a caste census and to remove the 50% caste ceiling without affecting any communities.
He also said that, If the ‘India’ coalition wins the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and forms the government, a caste-wise census will be conducted across the country. Also India coalition government will give due representation to all castes through caste-wise census and remove the current reservation system of no more than 50% for Dalits, Tribals and Other Backward Classes.
Caste census & BJP ignorance
Rahul condemned the BJP government and PM Modi, as Modi has always referred to himself as Other Backward Class, but if they ask for a caste based census, he will say that there are only two castes in India, rich and poor. When asked about the rights of Dalits, tribals and other backward classes, he said that there are no castes in India. But when he comes to ask for votes, he says he belongs to another backward caste.
The Modi government has encouraged the trend of hiring workers on contract basis. As of 2011 only 28% of factories employed contract workers, and by 2020 this number has increased to 98%. Most of these workers belong to the SC,ST, OBC communities. Every worker is weakened by being hired on a contract basis. Even among salaried workers, more than half work more than regular hours and receive no pension, so that every worker today sees a bleak future for himself and his family. Congress wants to empower these workers who are building India but BJP wants to destroy them.
Dispute in Jharkhand Assembly
The current dispute in the state of Jharkhand, where the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha are united and defending the state against BJP. Regarding this he accused the BJP government as they are having a habit of attacking democracy by capturing state governments through power and money.
