Congress Espousing Cause of All Sections of Society

Congress national coordinator for SC, OBC, minority and Adivasi departments Koppula Raju, who is also a former IAS officer, maintains that the party's discourse on caste census and its endeavour to realise equality in society brings Dalits, tribals, backward classes and minorities to the centre stage.

- Saubhadra Chatterji

Congress national coordinator for SC, OBC, minority and Adivasi departments Koppula Raju, who is also a former IAS officer, maintains that the party's discourse on caste census and its endeavour to realise equality in society brings Dalits, tribals, backward classes and minorities to the centre stage. Edited excerpts of his interview to HT:

Is the Congress branding itself as a party for the cause of SC, ST, OBC and minorities?

Our party has been consistently espousing the cause of all sections of the society. For example, Rahul Gandhi has recently raised questions about the unemployed youth from all sections of the society and pointed out the failed ELI (employment linked incentive) scheme. In the past, both Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have raised the issues concerning the unemployed youth. Rahul Gandhi has also spoken about the Agniveer (Agnipath) scheme, demonetisation, flawed GST, neglect of manufacturing sector, and neglect of MSMEs. So, it is not correct to say that he is only talking about SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities.

History suggests that Congress has never benefitted out of caste politics.