Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 1 : Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday said that the Centre agreed to conduct the caste census only due to persistent pressure from Rahul Gandhi.
Speaking to reporters at his Sadashivanagar residence, he said, "Rahul Gandhi has said that the caste census must be time-bound. The Centre must set a deadline to finish this activity."
"The philosophy of the Congress party is to provide welfare based on proportionate representation. The CM has also expressed the same opinion. Karnataka government will provide all the support in this matter," he added.
Congress workers in Hyderabad today celebrated after the centre decided to club the caste census with the upcoming census.
The workers poured milk on the posters of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
Rahul Gandhi, addressing a press conference on Wednesday, welcomed the decision to conduct caste enumeration but 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," Rahul Gandhi said.
"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.
The Congress leader stated that the caste census is the first step, and there is a need to adopt a new development paradigm.
"I would like to reiterate that caste census is the first step. Our vision is of bringing a new development paradigm through Caste Census. Not just reservations but we are also asking central questions - be it OBCs, Dalits, Adivasis, what is their participation in this country? Through Caste Census it will be found, but we have to go ahead of Caste Census...We had mentioned one more thing: Congress had raised one more point, which was also mentioned in the manifesto, specifically Article 15(5) - reservation in private educational institutions. This is already a law. We want the NDA-BJP Government to begin implementing it," he added.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census.