Exuding confidence that the Congress party will sweep the November 30 Assembly elections in Telangana like a tidal wave, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the party will take up caste census to promote social justice, implement its 6 guarantees for the welfare of all and usher in Janata sarkar (People’s government) in a mission mode.
Caste-based census is imperative to achieve social justice and empowerment of the underprivileged and marginalised sections of the society, he said, criticising the Narendra Modi-led BJP regime at the Centre for remaining ‘silent’ on the vital issue.
Addressing a huge public meeting in Telangana’s Peddapalli town on the second day of the party’s ‘Vijayabheri’ bus yatra drumming up support for the party candidates on Thursday, Mr Gandhi turned the spotlight on the caste census and took both the BJP government at the Centre and the BRS regime in Telangana for their “callous apathy” towards the empowerment of OBCs and other weaker sections.
Mr Gandhi reaffirmed that the Congress party will undertake caste census in Telangana and at the national level immediately after coming to power.
Likening caste-census to an X-ray, he said, “We will conduct X-ray to collect authentic data that will help emancipate the disadvantaged and marginalised groups. It will also reveal the extent of gross injustices done to these underprivileged sections in budgetary allocations and the ‘corruption’ of the persons at the helm in the BRS regime.”
Renewing his attack on both the BRS and the BJP, Mr Gandhi said Mr Narendra Modi and Mr Chandrasekhar Rao are scared of conducting caste census fearing exposure of the bleak scenario.
There are only three OBCs among 90 cabinet secretaries in the country, he pointed out saying, “When I raised the question on the abysmally low representation of OBCs in the top posts in the country’s bureaucracy on the floor of the Parliament, Mr Narendra Modi did not respond to my question.”
Given their miniscule numbers and the small departments allotted to them, the budgetary allocations to OBCs, who constitute a substantial chunk of the population, is abysmally meagre, he charged. He demanded that the Centre make public the data on OBCs gathered in the census conducted in 2011.
Reiterating his charge that ‘corruption’ was all pervasive in the ruling BRS dispensation, he alleged that thousands of crores of rupees of public money was ‘looted’ in the execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project.
The Narendra Modi regime is acting with ‘political vendetta’ against our Congress leaders as was evident from 26 cases booked against me, Mr Gandhi charged, alleging that the persons at the helm in Telangana were being spared from the Central probe agencies.
He said “The BJP, the BRS and the AIMIM are acting hand in glove against the Congress party.” The BRS extended its support to the Farm Laws and GST Bill in the past, he alleged, calling upon people to consciously vote for the Congress party at the hustings to defeat the “opportunistic politics”.
He accused the BJP-led Central government of vigorously pursuing privatisation policies and trying to hand over the PSUs and strategic sectors to some big companies and its corporate friends.
Lashing out at the BJP and the BRS for pursuing policies detrimental to the interests of the workforce, he said the Congress party scuttled attempts by the ruling dispensations to privatise the State-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL).
Earlier, Mr Gandhi interacted with a group of workers of the SCCL at RG OCP-II near Ladnapur village in Peddappalli district.
Mr Gandhi’s bus yatra traversed through the coal belt region spanning Jayashankar Bhupalpally district and Peddapalli district before reaching Karimnagar on Thursday night.
He addressed roadside meetings at Kataram and Manthani boosting the morale of the party cadres.
AICC in-charge Manikrao Thakre, TPCC president A Revanth Reddy, the CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Manthani MLA D Sridhar Babu and others accompanied him.
