Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri on Tuesday said the party’s demand that India needs a socio-economic caste census is not about strengthening caste-system but to ensure that reservations are calibrated based on new data.
Mr. Alagiri, party MP Thirunavukkarasar and its SC cell head M.P. Ranjan Kumar participated in an event where the leaders garlanded Indira Gandhi’s statue on Walltax Road in Chennai.
Speaking to the reporters later, he said, “We have reservations in India. But, it is not based on accurate data. The decadal census doesn’t show us the population of castes; the present reservations are based on projected data. As it is not accurate, many communities are missing out on reservations. This is why Congress leader (Rahul Gandhi) wants to do socio-economic caste census; it is not to strengthen the castes. It will help in ensuring that reservations are calibrated according to accurate data from the caste census.”
