JAIPUR: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday raised the caste census pitch, describing it as an 'X-ray' of the country.
"If it is not known whose population is how much, then how will we talk about participation?" he said while addressing an election rally in Vallabhnagar, Udaipur.
Gandhi said the Congress will conduct a caste census in Rajasthan if it comes to power and would also do so at the national level if the party forms the government at the centre.
Rahul's sentiments about the caste census were also echoed in the Congress manifesto for Rajasthan, which was released earlier today, promising a caste survey, interest-free loans up to Rs 2 lakh to farmers, and 10 lakh job opportunities, among others.
Similarly, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had earlier said that a caste survey would be carried out in the state, on the lines of a similar exercise conducted in Bihar.
Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue, he said earlier that the PM used to say he is from OBC, but the day he (Gandhi) raised the demand for a caste census, Modi started saying there is only one caste in India—the poor.
"Modi said there is only one caste in the country—the poor—but he did not say that there is another caste of billionaires as well. That is Adani, Ambani's caste. They have a special caste," he said.
The former Congress president charged that Modi's job is to divert public attention while Adani pickpockets and added that "they are a team."