Hyderabad: “I cannot lie to women, Minorities, Dalits, Other Backward Classes and Adivasis of the country. The discrimination they face in the society has to stop, and only then real progress in terms of development and happiness will be seen in the country,” said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during a meeting on the Telangana Caste Census at the Gandhian Ideology Centre in Secunderabad on Tuesday.
Rahul Gandhi, along with chief minister A Revanth Reddy, deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud were present at the meeting. All India Congress Committee in-charge Deepa Das Munshi, other party leaders and MLAs also attended the meeting.
More than 300 professors from various universities and members of civil society were invited to the meeting.
Constant dialogue with civil society
Rahul Gandhi asked the Congress party leaders to be in touch with the civil society members and listen to the pointers given by them from time to time.
Gandhi said, “The form to be filled for the caste census being done by the Telangana State government is comprehensive but whatever shortcomings are there must be ironed out. I want the State leadership to continue to have a constant dialogue with the civil society. It is important that the Telangana caste census becomes the role model for the national caste census.”
‘New system of governance from the caste census’
The caste census is about the people of the State.
Rahul Gandhi said, “I am glad that this census is not being done by bureaucrats. A bureaucratic caste census is not required. The questions of the caste census are related to education, society, political and economic status and change and employment. This also applies to the general category. The caste census will not only give us numbers and data but also a new system of governance for the future of the country.”
Fear of CAA-NRC looms over the caste census
Civil society members were called to give their opinions to Rahul Gandhi during the meeting and they explained how people are afraid that the caste census might be used against them.
A civil society activist said, “The people of the State are scared that the information disclosed by them and collected by the government would be used against them, especially considering the CAA-NRC bill of the Central government. Hence, people on the ground have many questions regarding the purpose of the survey.” Rahul Gandhi reiterated the importance of party workers staying in touch with people on the ground level to remove any such apprehensions that the survey will be used against the people of Telangana.
Four per cent reservation has helped Muslims
The four per cent reservation has helped Muslims in the education sector. Many households are now able to benefit from the scheme. For that reason, it is important that works like these be carried out to uplift those who are economically backward, stated a representative.
Diverse number of attendees at the meeting with 18 guest speakers
People representing views of farmers, backward communities, sub-caste, transgender and other marginalised communities were put forth during the meeting. The discussions among them included further actions needed to ensure that the survey is more comprehensive.
Congress workers asked to work on people outreach
The Congress party has asked its workers to ensure that they reach out to people and help them and the government enumerators collect the right details.
The disclosure will be mostly by the people and it is important that the party workers build confidence from the ground up, the leaders said.
Santosh Kumar Rudra, the in-charge of the caste census and at the centre, said, “We have received many representations from Christians and many other communities for Rahul Gandhi. We have also been apprised of the needs of domestic workers which is important. With these inputs, we are going to work on the parameters set so far and try and make the caste census in Telangana as comprehensive as possible.”
