New Delhi, July 24: Senior Congress leadership, including Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi on July 24, 2025, hailed and congratulated the Telangana government for carrying out the meaningful and broad-based caste census in the state.

Addressing a function after the presentation of the census details on the ‘Telangana Socio, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political & Caste Survey 2024,’ Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Telangana state had provided a new direction to the entire country. He said it was really a courageous step by Telangana Chief Minister Shri Revanth Reddy to carry out the caste census, as there could always be some resistance from certain quarters.

Congress President said - This is a very big achievement and he was telling us in the morning that this is a complete X-ray of the society, everything has been captured in it, but jokingly I told Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister and Uttam Reddy, all the leaders - yes brother, only the untouchables did not appear in that X-ray... what about the Scheduled Castes, I said this. That X-ray is fine... but the untouchables... they are not at the same level, backwards are at the same level socially. There is no untouchability in society with the backwards, but there is a difference between Scheduled Castes and backwards. Because Scheduled Castes are considered untouchables. So, since there is this huge difference, we have to gradually bring it together. If the Scheduled Caste and the Backward Classes support the Congress together from a social and political point of view, then I think including minorities we can cross more than 50%, about 60-70%. This does not mean leaving anyone else, they are in their place, our system already has them... the Manu Smriti, which our Rahul sahab always talks about with great force and patience, I don’t think if there was any other opposition leader in his place or any other leader in our Party, who on his own strength would not have been able to travel from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and openly take up the issues of the backward, scheduled caste, minorities. He is the only person who worked with patience and did not see the disadvantages and advantages of it. He only saw how to take the backward people forward in this society, in the country - economically, socially and educationally.

When Rahul Ji raised the issue of backward class, then it came to Modi Ji’s mind also that I will not mention the backward class in the coming census, if I do not keep that column, I will not get the votes of backward class. Understanding this, he too is today talking about caste census in general census. So why this, when a person who raises an issue gets full support of the Party, fearing him, today the government is also forced to do this work.

So, the Congress Party gave us this power and leaders like Rahul are fearlessly going to every state and telling everyone about these issues. So, it is affecting the hearts and minds of the people and bringing about a change in them. Like what Revant said now, what Revant said was that a lot of its consequences were being felt by us, but I called each one and explained it to them, after understanding, even they said that if we don’t do it, tomorrow they will snatch our chair, what will we do at that time. So, they also explained it to their people who belong to the upper caste. After understanding, what has happened is a very big achievement, it is not a small one. It is fully supported by the Congress Party, especially Rahul Gandhi ji, wherever he used to go, he used to say that there should be a census of OBCs, and when the talk of their participation in it is going on, they have also become awakened.

What I am saying is that on one hand you have done the socio-economic survey very well, but if there are one or two shortcomings in it, you need not hesitate in correcting them. When you are doing the first survey and that too is 99 percent correct, if there is a half percent or one percent error anywhere in it, there is no need to refuse to accept it. So whatever work you did and whatever work the expert committee did, I thank all of them.

Now Revanth Reddy is doing this because he has got political power. If there was no power, what could you have done! So, firstly our society needs three things. Firstly, they must have either economic power or human power or mental power, only when these three things are present, the society moves ahead.