"World Bows Down...": Congress Poster Claims Credit For Centre's Caste Move

A day after the Centre announced that caste data would be recorded in the next Census, a poster outside the Congress headquarters in Delhi credits party leader Rahul Gandhi with pushing the Narendra Modi government into taking the decision.

The poster, put up by party leader Srinivas BV, has a photograph of Mr Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, who had demanded a caste Census in the country and stressing that this move will pave the way for more affirmative action to uplift backward sections of society.

"We said Modi ji would have to get a caste Census done. We will get it done. The world bows down, you need someone to make it bow down," the poster read.

While the Congress has said its caste Census push forced the Centre to take this decision, the ruling BJP has said Congress governments since Independence have always opposed caste census and that the party only used the issue as a political tool.

"Considering all these facts and to ensure that the social fabric is not disturbed by politics, caste enumeration should be transparently included in the Census instead of surveys," Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the media yesterday, announcing the cabinet's decision. He added that this will strengthen the country's social and economic structure.

Shortly after the announcement, Mr Gandhi said in a post on X, "We said Modi ji would have to get a caste Census done. We will get it done. This is our vision and we would ensure that the government gets a transparent and effective caste Census done. And everyone knows which sections have what partnership in the country's institutions and power structure."

Mr Gandhi congratulated individuals and organisations that kept pushing for this and said he was proud of them.

Countering the Congress, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told the media today that "some people are falsely claiming credit". "The country needs to know the truth. Jawaharlal Nehru was strongly against caste-based reservation," he said, adding that the Indira Gandhi government later kept the issue on the back burner.

"In 1977, the Janata Party government set up the Mandal Commission to bring social justice back on track. Our leaders, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, then with the Jana Sangh, were with the government. Who kept the Mandal Commission report on hold? It was a Congress government. When the VP Singh government implemented the Mandal Commission recommendations, our party supported the government," he said.

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