I am 100 per cent with caste census, it’s our highest priority: Sonia Gandhi at CWC meet

PTI, Oct 10, 2023, 9:48 AM IST

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday said she was ”100 per cent” in support of a nationwide caste census and asserted that this was the party’s ”highest priority” which it should get done, sources said.

Gandhi made the remarks during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held at the party headquarters here.

”I am 100 per cent with the caste census, we must get it done. This is our highest priority,” a source quoted Gandhi as saying in her only intervention during the meeting.

In a resolution passed by the CWC, the party said the Congress promises that a government led by it will conduct a nationwide caste sensus as part of the normal decadal census which was due in 2021.

The party also promised to implement the 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies at the earliest, ensuring adequate representation for women belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and including Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in it as well.

”The unnecessary obstacles of census and delimitation imposed by the Modi government (on the implementation of the women’s reservation bill) will be removed,” the resolution read.

The party also called for removing through a legislation the cap of 50 per cent on the reservation for OBCs, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in line with their proportion in the population.