"If there's no caste in India, how is Modi OBC?": Rahul Gandhi slams PM Modi on Caste Census
Patna (Bihar) [India] June 6 (ANI): Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi attended the 'Samvidhan Sabha' in Rajgir, Nalanda, on Friday. Addressing the gathering, Gandhi emphasised the need for a caste census and criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stance on the issue.
He questioned PM Modi's claim of being an OBC while asserting that the BJP denies the existence of caste in India, emphasising the need for a genuine caste census.
'Narendra Modi used to say in every speech, I am OBC. Then, on the caste census, they say that there is no caste in India. If there is no caste in India, then how did Narendra Modi become an OBC? My goal is to conduct a caste census. I had said this to Narendra Modi face to face in Lok Sabha - there will be a caste census, and you know he has a habit of surrendering,' Rahul Gandhi posted on Congress X handle.
Rahul Gandhi emphasised the importance of conducting a caste census, asserting that it would reveal the country's actual social and economic dynamics.
He Gandhi stressed that a genuine caste census would undermine the current political landscape, particularly for the ruling party. He mentioned US President Donald Trump's claim that he had made Narendra Modi surrender, suggesting that Modi's silence on the issue was telling.
'My aim is caste census. In Lok Sabha, in front of Modi ji, I told him that caste census would be conducted. And you know he has a habit of surrendering. Trump has said 11 times in public that he made Narendra Modi surrender. But Narendra Modi ji cannot utter a word because it is the truth...They will never get a genuine caste census done because the day they get it done, their politics will end...,' said the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.
He highlighted two models - the BJP's closed-door approach and Telangana's inclusive method, which involved public input.
'There are two models of caste census- A BJP model and second Telangana model. In the BJP model, officers decided the questions in a closed room, 90% of which had no one. The most important thing in the caste census is which questions are being asked. At the same time, we openly asked questions from the public in Telangana. We told the Dalits, backward classes, tribals, minorities and their associations that we are going to conduct a caste census - what kind of questions do you want? People from every section gave us different kinds of questions. About 3 lakh people have prepared questions for caste census in open meetings,' he posted from Congress X handle.
The central government on Wednesday announced that the Population Census-2027 will be conducted in two phases and will also include the enumeration of castes. Opposition parties accused the government of further delaying the nationwide enumeration exercise.
According to the MHA statement, the reference date for the 'Population Census-2027 will be 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027, for most parts of the country.
'However, for the Union Territory of Ladakh, and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00:00 hours on October 1, 2026.'
The government has also indicated that a notification of intent to conduct the census, adhering to the timelines mentioned above, will be published in the Official Gazette on June 16, 2025. This will be done under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948, which governs the legal framework for the decennial census exercise in India.
The 2021 census was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Census 2027 is slated to be one of the most comprehensive data-gathering exercises undertaken by the Indian government.
The Census of India was conducted under the provisions of the Census Act of 1948 and the Census Rules of 1990.
The last Census of India was conducted in 2011 in two phases, namely i) Phase I - House Listing (HLO) (1 April to 30 September 2010) and (ii) Phase II - Population Enumeration (PE) (February 9 to February 28, 2011) with reference date - 00:00 hours of the first day of March 2011, except for snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for which it was conducted during September 11 to 30, 2010 with reference date as 00.00 hours of the first day of October 2010.
Census 2021 was also proposed to be conducted in two phases similarly, with phase I during April-September 2020 and the second phase in February 2021. All the preparations for the first phase of the Census to be conducted in 2021 were completed, and field work was scheduled to begin in some States/UTs from April 1, 2020. However, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country, the census work was postponed.
Earlier today, Rahul Gandhi, who arrived in Gaya, visited the Dashrath Manjhi Memorial, accompanied by members of Manjhi's family.
As part of his visit, he will attend various events in the region.
The Mountain Man lived in Gehlaur village, near Gaya. As per the Bihar Government, Manjhi carved a path 110 m long (360 ft), 9.1 m (30 ft) wide and 7.7 m (25 ft) deep through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and chisel. After 22 years of work, Dashrath shortened the travel between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km.
He breathed his last on August 17, 2007, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
The Government of Bihar gave him a state funeral, proposed his name for the Padma Shri award in 2006 in the social service sector and released a stamp by the India Post in the 'Personalities of Bihar' series on December 26, 2016. (ANI)
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