Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi while addressing a Lok Sabha elections rally in Gujarat’s Patan on Monday attacked the Centre alleging that there are only three IAS officers belonging to Other Backward Class among the top 90 bureaucrats running the country.
"90 IAS officers are running the government in Delhi. Modi ji only signs. They distribute every rupee of the budget. They decide how much money will go to Gujarat, the Bullet train project will get how much funding, whether to have the Agniveer Yojana or not; they decide on scholarships given to people belonging to the backward class; they decide how much money will go to infrastructure. Out of 90, only three are from the backward class. They are made to sit behind in a corner. They are given a small department. There is none in the finance ministry…," said Rahul during the rally.
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This is not the first time that Rahul has made such a claim. In the past as well he has made similar remarks. In October 2023, the Congress leader during a rally in Telangana, questioned PM Modi why there were only three OBC officers among the 90 top bureaucrats in the central government.
Speaking at the Vijayabheri public meeting in Peddapally in Telangana, Rahul asked, "I want to tell you something important…90 IAS officers decide where India's massive budget of 44 lakh crore should go, how much should be spent on each scheme... But (they) will never tell you that only three of these 90 are OBC officers and they have been given unimportant departments. They decide only 5% of the budget. Is the OBC population so small in the country?"
The grand old party has been seeking a nationwide caste census for some time now to “ensure equal opportunities” to all as per their population. It believes that a caste census is the only way to ensure equal opportunity for all in the country.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on March 25 said that caste has been a socio-economic reality of Indian society for centuries. "We cannot deny caste-based discrimination in India and the disadvantages imposed by caste at birth," he said in a post on X.
"To make the distribution of economic growth more equitable, we need a survey of the ownership of assets and the representation of people in the institutions of our democracy," said Jairam.
“Therefore, what is needed is a caste census combined with a survey of national assets and governance systems, which is updated from time to time,” the Congress leader further added.
