Nueva Delhi: The leader of Congress, Rahul Gandhi, shared an interview with Professor Sukhadeo Thorat, a member of the Telangana caste survey panel, discussing the need for a caste census in the country and how Br Ambedkar directed a movement against caste discrimination.
The opposition leader in Lok Sabha spoke about Mahad Satyagraha, saying that the movement was “not only a struggle for access to water but a struggle for equality and dignity.”
He said that the caste census is a crucial step to get “inequality to light, while their opponents seek to suppress this truth.”
The Congress leader said: “Babasaheb’s dream remains breached. His struggle is not only from the past but also of the present, and we will carry it forward with all his strength.”
“We talked to the renowned educator, economist, an expert in Dalit issues and a member of the study committee on caste -based surveys in Telangana, Prof. Thorath, to discuss the importance of this Satyagraha. During the conversation, we also deepen the continuous fight for Dalits’s access to the government, education, bureaucracy and resources,” he wrote in X.
Last month, Rahul Gandhi said that the caste survey in Telangana revealed that almost “90% of the state population included dalits, Adivasis, BCS and minorities” and that it was absolutely convinced that it would be the same story throughout the country, with OBC that comprise no less than 50%.
Rahul had also raised his speech from the census census during his response to the motion of thanks to the president’s speech, saying that the architecture of a new paradigm could only be built once the census of caste is placed in Parliament.
The Telangana Assembly unanimously approved the Sketch of Caste Law (Rationalization of reservations) scheduled of Telangana, 2025, giving legal holiness to the subcategorization of the community in three groups. Once the governor nods to the bill, Telangana will become the first state to have subcategorization from the order of the Supreme Court in August last year.
The bill classifies the population of 52.17 LAKH SC in the state, which includes 59 castes, in three groups, in opposition to four groups in Andhra Pradesh Indivisas. Group I, with 15 castes, has been given a 1% reserve, Group II, with 18 communities obtains 9% and Group III, with 26 castes it receives 5% quota, totaling 15%.
Group I comprises the most socially and economically disadvantaged and overlooked SC communities. Group II includes moderately benefited castes, and the last group includes communities significantly benefiting from reserves over the years. The first two groups mainly comprise Madigas and their sub -hosts, while the third consists of bad and their subcases.