Gandhi said that caste enumeration should follow the Telangana model and not the Bihar model. He criticised the Bihar approach where census questions were framed by a few bureaucrats behind closed doors and executed through self-reporting.“In the Bihar model, the questions of the census were framed by select bureaucrats in a closed room… On the contrary, in Telangana, the questions of the caste census were framed based on inputs from 3.5 lakh people,” Gandhi said. He added that officials in Telangana visited every household and recorded responses personally, which led to more accurate and revealing results.According to him, the Telangana caste census found that no one from SC, ST or OBC backgrounds held top positions in the corporate sector and that government contracts were mostly awarded to just 5% of the population, excluding the weaker and deprived sections.He further said that around 90% of India’s population consists of Dalits, OBCs, tribals and minorities, yet they are not part of the country’s development process. “Two India’s are being created,” he said, “one comprising 90% of the population which work as labourers, food delivery workers and cab drivers and the other comprising 5-10% in whose hands the entire wealth is concentrated.”Gandhi concluded that a genuine caste census based on the Telangana model is the only way forward. “Whenever the caste census is conducted in the country, it will have to be based on the Telangana model, whether it’s done by Modi or the Congress,” he said.
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