Chhattisgarh: “Why are you afraid?” Rahul Gandhi asks PM Modi over OBC caste census

Kanker (Chhattisgarh) [India]: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Saturday asserted that the Congress will conduct the caste-based census if the party assumes office at the Centre while questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi why he is afraid to conduct it.

“We will conduct the caste-based census as fast as possible. If our government comes to power, the work will begin in two hours. And if our government is formed in Chhattisgarh, then the Chhattisgarh government will conduct the caste-based survey,” Rahul Gandhi said at a gathering in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker ahead of the state assembly elections.

He further said, “Why are you (PM Modi) afraid of OBC caste-based census? Why don’t you speak about caste-based census in your speeches? And the data which we prepared during our government, why don’t you release it? As you know in today’s India, the OBC section does not have the participation it should have. Because you want to hide this truth from the OBC youth.”

The Congress has fielded Shankar Dhruv from the Kanker (ST) seat which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes, it has fielded Girish Devangan from Rajnandgaon and Savitri Mandavi from the reserved constituency of Bhanupratappur(ST).

The first phase of polling for 20 seats in Chhattisgarh will be held on November 7. After the first phase of polling on November 7, the remaining 70 seats in the state will go to polls on November 17.

The counting of votes will be done on December 3.

Elections in Chhattisgarh will be contested on 90 assembly seats and both the major contenders in the state, BJP and Congress, have released their final list of all 90 candidates in the state.

The ruling party in the state, Congress, has fielded leaders like Ambica Singh Deo from Baikunthpur, Chaturi Nand from Saraipali, Ambina Markam from Sihawa and Omkar Sahu from Dhamtari.