Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the Congress party “fell short” of understanding and addressing the issues faced by the OBCs and that “opened up the space” for the BJP. Speaking at an event attended by Congress’s Lok Sabha MPs and Telangana leadership at Indira Bhavan, Gandhi said the party must be responsive to all communities moving forward to send a message of fairness.
“I would like to say one thing. It is a personal thing. People may not agree with me. When it came to Dalit, Adivasi, women’s issues, the Congress was on track. And I am talking about the last 10-15 years. But I do feel that when it came to OBCs, the Congress party’s understanding of their issues, the challenges they were facing and the type of actions that the party should have and could have taken, we fell short.”
“Maybe many will say, no, you are wrong. But this is a feeling I have that we allowed, we opened the space for the BJP because we were not responsive to the aspirations, to the desires of the OBCs,” he said.
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who was also present at the event, gave a presentation on the state’s socio, economic, educational, employment, political and caste survey 2024.
Gandhi said when he started pushing for the caste census in Telangana, in the back of his mind there was an issue. “That we have Revanth Reddy as Chief Minister and that it will be difficult for him to push the caste census because his community may not appreciate that action.”
The LoP described the Telangana caste survey as a “milestone for social justice in the country, whether the BJP likes it or not” and said the national caste census will have to follow the Telangana caste survey.
The Congress has demanded that the Centre should adopt the “Telangana model” of caste enumeration as part of the next Census. Gandhi said the Congress high command will push the Telangana model of caste census in Parliament. Gandhi also spoke about the importance of English education. “The single biggest determinant of success of progressive India is English education. That is surprising… English education is much more powerful in India than education in a regional language or Hindi. I am not saying Hindi is not important or regional languages are not important. They are. But what is determining progress is English… This is a historical fact,” said Gandhi.
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The Congress leader’s statement comes a month after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said at an event that soon a time would come when those speaking English in this country would “feel ashamed”. Shah said those who do not speak Indian languages cease to remain fully Indian and that India cannot be understood through “foreign languages”.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Our society needs three things — economic strength, human strength, and mental strength… A society that has these three things progresses…,” said Kharge. The Congress chief urged the PCC presidents and other leaders to take the Telangana caste survey to other states.
