Today in Politics: Congress charts out next steps for caste census narrative, asks about timeframe

The Opposition party also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the caste census announcement, saying it provided a “headline without a deadline”.

Sources said the CWC was likely to pass resolutions seeking concrete action against Pakistan over the terror attack and allocation of funds to get the caste enumeration exercise conducted soon as part of the decadal Census.

“There is a meeting of the CWC at 4 pm on Friday. The most important issue is the Pahalgam attack and we will discuss that as it is the biggest political issue before the country. The country is waiting (for action) and those who have lost their family members are seeking justice,” the Congress’s communications head Jairam Ramesh said.

Ramesh said the Congress would also raise in Parliament the demand to remove the 50% quota cap. “We want to discuss the road ahead for the party after the government’s announcement. Caste census has been a long-standing demand of the Congress, which is why the government has made this announcement. But we want answers from the government regarding the timeline, budget, and the 50% cap on reservation,” said a highly placed source in the party.

Referring to the Cabinet nod for the collection of caste data, Ramesh asked, “Like what Rahul Gandhi said yesterday, ‘headline toh de diya, lekin deadline kaha hai (you gave us the headline but what about the deadline)?’”

Following the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, who has been among the most vocal advocates of a caste census, said the exercise was “our vision” and that it was the “first step” towards a “new development paradigm”.

Gandhi told reporters at the All India Congress Committee’s Akbar Road office in Delhi, “We had said in Parliament that we will get the caste census done. And we also said the 50% cap on reservation, the artificial wall, will be broken. What happened that, suddenly, Narendra Modi ji, who used to say that there are just four castes, announced the caste census? We fully support this. But we want a timeline and when it will be done. This is the first step. Telangana has become a model for the caste census.”

Describing the Telangana census as “detailed and granular” and pointing out that it was undertaken through an “open process”, Gandhi said the national census should “follow some of the ideas” from the exercise in the Congress-ruled state. “We are more than happy to help,” said Gandhi.

The demand for a caste census has also been the centrepiece of the Congress’s social justice agenda to reach out to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), which have moved away from the party in the post-Mandal years and embraced the BJP under Modi.

Naidu’s Amaravati plan

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s capital project in Amaravati is taking off again. And it features a familiar guest: Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

PM Modi will lay the foundation for Rs 49,040 crore worth of works in Amaravati and officially relaunch construction work in the capital city tomorrow.

This is the second time Modi will launch projects in Amaravati, having laid the original foundation stone for the construction of the capital city in October 2015. The PM will address a public gathering afterwards.

Naidu has asked leaders and cadre from the TDP, Jana Sena and BJP to be in attendance.

Naidu said that both the Centre and the state are closely coordinating to make his Amaravati dream a reality, and that despite a financial crunch, several welfare and developmental programmes have been taken up in the 10 months of the TDP-led NDA coming to power. He said that revenue generated from Amaravati will be used to push more developmental works and welfare programmes. He called the capital a self-sustained project and said basic facilities will be provided in the next three years.

Naidu said that land has been successfully pooled for the capital city, and that the farmers have given their land keeping in view the state’s future.

The CM also said that the Polavaram project will be completed by 2027 and that large-scale employment opportunities will be generated with the establishment of TCS in Visakhapatnam. Work on the construction of Bhogapuram airport is moving at a fast pace, he said, adding that LG Corporation is going to invest Rs 5,000 crore in the state.