Rahul Gandhi backs caste census move, seeks clear timeline from government

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he welcomes the government's "sudden" decision to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census after "11 years of opposing it" but it should give a timeline for its implementation.

His comments came within hours of the government announcing that caste enumeration would be included in the forthcoming census exercise in a "transparent" manner.

Addressing a press conference here, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, "We support this (government's decision) completely but we want a timeline. We want to know by when it will be done."  Welcoming the Narendra Modi dispensation's "sudden" decision to include caste enumeration in the census exercise after "11 years of opposing it", he said, "This is the first step and Telangana is a model for caste census."  While reiterating the demand for removing the 50 per cent cap on reservations, Gandhi said funds should be allocated for the caste census.

"We want people's census, not bureaucrats' census," he added.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, have been demanding a nationwide caste census, making it a major election issue. Some states like Bihar, Telangana and Karnataka have conducted such surveys.

Announcing the decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the census comes under the purview of the Centre, but some states have done caste enumeration in the name of surveys "non-transparently" which has created doubts in the society.