INDIA: The Congress leader and former MP Rahul Gandhi recently held public meetings in Bhalki and Humnabad in this north-eastern Karnataka district, where he raised the caste census issue. The political stalwart targeted the BJP for being caste biased and urged PM Modi to release the 2011 census caste-based OBC categorisation data in the public domain.
However, the saffron party condemned the allegations made by the Congress party and called them hypocritical, saying that they have been cooling their heels over the issue for decades.
A ruling party leader counterattacked via his statement, saying, “In 2018, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government did not publish the findings of the caste-based census before the Karnataka elections. Congress had not published the data for three years after the caste census was conducted when they were in power. This shows Congress’s outrageous stand and hypocrisy on the caste-based census.”
“He (Nehru) didn’t want a caste-based census to be conducted in the country,” he added. Rahul also alleged that the BJP and RSS were attacking Basavanna’s ideals, and they mainly bought MLS for a state to win. The Congress leader also ascertained that they would form their government in Karnataka by defeating the BJP.
Thus, the BJP leader took a dig at Nehru and Gandhi’s legacy. He brought attention to the table when the veterans rejected the demand for a caste census and Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi-led-governments decided to put the Mandal Commission report beneath the table. “Rajiv Gandhi called the Mandal Commission a can of worms and suggested that the commission was divisive for the country,” said the saffron party loyalist. Moreover, under the governance of Pranab Mukherjee in 2010, the Congress government called the caste census impractical.
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