Caste census revolutionary step, Cong will conduct it if voted to power: Rahul Gandhi

Satna (MP): Caste census is a revolutionary step that will change the lives of the people, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, stressing that his party will get the survey conducted in Madhya Pradesh as well as at national if voted to power.

He was addressing a rally at Satna in MP where assembly elections will be held on November 17.

“After coming to power in the state, the first thing to be done is conducting a caste census to know the exact number of OBCs in Madhya Pradesh. It is like an X-ray which will reveal all (number of other backward class) and accordingly policies will be framed for their welfare,” he said.

The Congress will also carry out caste census at the national level if it is brought to power at the Centre, he said, calling the exercise a “revolutionary and life-changing step for the people”.

Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi always used to say that he was an OBC but stopped talking about it soon after the Congress leader raised the issue of conducting caste census in the country.

In Madhya Pradesh, the former Congress president said, that of the 53 IAS officers who run the state, only one is an OBC. “This means that if the state's total budget is Rs 100, then the OBC official has control over just 33 paisa or .03 per cent,” he claimed.

Gandhi also alleged that because of debt-related hardships, 18,000 farmers have died by suicide in MP in the past 18 years.

Referring to unemployment, he said that Demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) “attacked” small-medium businesses and traders. “It resulted in this (joblessness) situation in the country,” Gandhi said.