Rahul Gandhi's fresh attack over caste census: ‘BJP should count its days’

Rahul Gandhi asked why PM Modi called himself OBC while he believed there are only two castes in India – rich and poor.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched an attack on Prime Minister Modi amid the Opposition's calls for a caste census in the country. Gandhi asked why the Prime Minister identified himself as OBC when he considered ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ as the only caste in the country.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (X/Congress)

“Nowadays the Prime Minister says there are only two castes in the country – rich and poor… When there is no one backward, no Dalit and no tribal, then why did Modi ji call himself OBC for so many years? So now there will be no more gossip - it will be counted… To provide social and economic justice…there will be a count. To bring the weak and deprived into the mainstream…there will be a count. BJP government should count its days, we will get the caste census done,” he wrote on X.

Rahul Gandhi's comments came as the Opposition continued to corner the Centre on the topic of caste census. Pressing the need for a caste census, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in Parliament on Friday, “We are pressing for this, not because of politics, but because if a caste census is done, we will know how many graduates are there; how many jobs are there, and how much land is owned by different communities… you can make policies. You (government) think about it again. If you don’t do it, we will come and do it,” Kharge said.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar state governments have already conducted the caste census. Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy said last week that the state will soon conduct the caste census, as promised by the Congress party. “The officials concerned have been asked to take necessary action to launch the caste census,” an official release from the Telangana government said.

Speaking at the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' in West Bengal's Malda district Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reiterated that his party would conduct caste census if it comes to power at the Centre. "We want social justice and the biggest aspect of delivering it will be a countrywide caste census. After we come to power at the Centre, we will conduct a caste census across the nation to find out the number of Dalits, tribals and people from other backward communities," he said.

Caste census is the caste-wise tabulation of the country's population. The last cast census was conducted in 1931. Though caste data was collected later for 2011 census it was never made public.

(With agencies' inputs)