AGENCIES

India’s Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said yesterday the party’s working committee has unanimously decided to support the idea of caste census in the country and announced that party chief ministers in Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan are considering it.

“Caste census is a very progressive, powerful step for emancipation of poor people. It is an ‘X-ray’ needed for new paradigm and development in country,” Rahul said.

“The PM is incapable of doing caste census. 3 out of 4 Congress CMs are from the OBC category. Out of 10 BJP CMs, only one is from the OBC category. The PM doesn’t work for the OBCs but works to distract them from main issues,” Rahul alleged.

“PM Modi’s charge that demand for caste census an attempt to divide people is nothing but distraction,” he added.

He claimed that most INDIA parties support the idea of caste census. “If someone has different opinion, we are flexible, not fascist,” he said.

Earlier, addressing party leaders at the CWC meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge raised the demand for conducting a nationwide caste census to ensure social justice and rights to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in accordance with their population, while noting that the BJP is silent on this matter, reports TNN.

Meanwhile, five Indian states will elect new legislatures next month, an independent election panel said yesterday, beginning a process of regional polls ahead of national elections due next year, reports Reuters.

The elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram are expected to give an indication of voter mood, especially in the heartland states which are key to fortunes of BJP.