Rahul Gandhi backs Telangana caste probe and questions PM’s silence on discrimination | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Grand old party leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attended a Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) meeting in Hyderabad and expressed support for Telangana’s upcoming caste survey, calling the state a “model for a national caste census.”
“So, I am fully in favor of ensuring that not only caste census takes place in Telangana, but Telangana becomes a model for caste census in the country,” Rahul said.
He pointed out the need to tackle caste discrimination in India, which he described as “unique” and “one of the worst in the world.”
During his speech, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha also vowed to challenge the current 50 per cent cap on reservations, which he termed an ‘artificial barrier’.
In a jab at the Prime Minister, the former Congress leader questioned Prime Minister Modi’s reluctance to collect data on the representation of Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis in sectors such as boards of directors, the judiciary and the media.
He said that on behalf of the Congress, he has promised in Parliament to conduct a national caste census.
The event attended by social groups, caste associations and Congress leaders, was part of a broader initiative by the Telangana government to conduct a comprehensive socio-economic, education, employment, politics and caste survey – a promise that Gandhi did last year. election campaign for the municipal council.
On his arrival in Hyderabad, Rahul Gandhi was given a grand welcome at the Begumpet airport and later at the Gandhi Ideology Center in Bowenpally. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy along with state Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud and other senior leaders greeted him at the venue.
The Telangana government will start the caste survey on November 6.