Hyderabad: The Telangana Congress on Wednesday welcomed the Union government's decision to include caste enumeration in the national census. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy took credit citing Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s vision. He expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet.

In wake of the resolution of BC reservations passed in Telangana, Revanth Reddy also recalled the demonstration in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar earlier this month pressing the Centre to agree for caste census. While sharing the copy of resolution on X, the Chief Minister reminded how the state government undertook the challenge of caste survey. “A state-wide comprehensive Social, Economic, Caste Survey was conducted and found that 56.32 per cent of the population belongs to the Backward Castes.

In wake of the resolution of BC reservations passed in Telangana, Revanth Reddy also recalled the demonstration in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar earlier this month pressing the Centre to agree for caste census. While sharing the copy of resolution on X, the Chief Minister reminded how the state government undertook the challenge of caste survey. “A state-wide comprehensive Social, Economic, Caste Survey was conducted and found that 56.32 per cent of the population belongs to the Backward Castes.

Based on the report tabled in the Telangana Assembly, the state also resolved and proposed 42 per cent reservations for OBCs in education, work and political positions,” the CM stated.

Revanth further said the Congress took the struggle across the country, including the national capital seeking the Central government’s nod for caste census. “Today, finally, we proved that what Telangana does today, India will follow tomorrow. It is a proud moment that Rahul Gandhi has shown how his vision has become a policy even being in the Opposition. We are proud that the actions of Telangana government for OBC empowerment have inspired the country, and India has agreed to also follow the actions of our state. We congratulate the Central government for deciding to conduct caste census as part of the next national census,” he added.

Centre talks, Telangana acts

Meanwhile, BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar described this as a landmark move and a clear victory for the backward class communities. “While the Centre talks, Telangana acts. This is not about political gains, it’s about delivering justice and dignity to communities that have long awaited their rightful place in our democracy,” he noted.

PCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud described the Central government's decision as a victory for Telangana government. “It is a matter of joy that the central government has announced that it will include caste enumeration in the national census. CM Revanth Reddy and his cabinet colleagues have taken the bold decision and conducted a transparent caste census survey. The Congress government in Telangana has already successfully completed the caste census in a scientific manner as per Rahul Gandhi's idea and has set a benchmark,” he underlined.

While welcoming the decision the BC Commission urged the Centre to immediately approve the bill passed by the Telangana government and implement it in Telangana without waiting for the census and caste census to be conducted across the country. “Since this process has been completed in Telangana, we request Centre to immediately approve the bill passed by the Telangana government,” said G Niranjan, Chairman, Telangana Commission for Backward Classes.