Revanth Reddy Urges Centre To Form Ministerial Panel For Caste Census; Offers Telangana As Model

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy suggested the Central government engage in discussion with all political parties and civil societies before taking up the caste census with timeframes.

Revanth Reddy said Telangana government will fully cooperate on the issue and is willing to share its experience and challenges with the Centre.

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Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday suggested the NDA Government at the Centre to appoint a group of Central ministers and an expert committee of officials to engage with stakeholders and others for the caste census. Addressing the media here, Reddy, while thanking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government for its decision to take up the caste enumeration along with the general census, said Telangana model can be emulated across the country, as the southern state was the "roll model".

He also suggested the Central government engage in discussion with all political parties and civil societies before taking up the caste census with timeframes.

He said the caste study in Telangana was taken up after several consultations with stakeholders by a group of state ministers and time has come that Central and state governments should work together.

“I have one suggestion for Narendra Modi or the Central government. First appoint a group of ministers, and an experts committee with officials. This group of ministers and experts committee will go to every state and discuss with the state governments and take suggestions from them. Then prepare the terms of reference for the caste census,” Revanth Reddy said.

He said the Telangana government will fully cooperate on the issue and is willing to share its experience and challenges with the Centre.

According to him one year is sufficient to complete the whole exercise of the caste census across the country as per the Telangana’ experience.

In a major decision, the Central government on Wednesday decided to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census exercise in a "transparent" manner.

Quoting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who suggested the centre to take Telangana as a role model for the caste census, Revanth Reddy said it was the Leader of Opposition who promised the enumeration during his Bharat Jodo yatra.

“Telangana model will become effective for every state. We are not trying to dominate anybody. We have no objection if you learnt from the Telangana model. We are ready to cooperate,” he said.

Refusing to comment on a possible political motive behind the Centre’s decision to take up caste enumeration the CM said ultimately the SC, ST, BC and minorities of the country should enjoy the fruits.

The Telangana Congress held a protest at Jantar Mantar Delhi demanding the "Central government to agree for Caste Census", he said.

Reddy said the state government is ready to share its reports and experiences with the Centre and give a presentation either in Hyderabad or Delhi.

Replying to a query, Reddy said that since NDA could not get 400 seats in the last Lok Sabha polls, they could not dare change the constitution to abolish reservation.

According to him the NDA, which was "against" the caste census, was compelled to take it up out of "political compulsion".

On the the proposal from a group of intellectuals advocating for a ceasefire and peace talks with Maoists, Revanth Reddy said his party and government are against violence by either state or some groups.

"There should not be any violence. there has to be a dialogue. We believe that dialogue will result in solutions for any problem," Reddy said.

He however, said an official stand on the issue will be taken up after due discussions with the party's senior leadership. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)