'What Rahul Gandhi meant was...': Chidambaram defends caste census, explains 'jitni abadi, utna haq' formula

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday defended the Congress party's call for caste census and an increase in the reservation cap. He questioned the logic behind the 50% cap on reservations, noting that SC, ST, and OBC communities represent around 80-85% of India. "Why should the reservation be capped at 50%? There is no logic," he said while speaking at the India Today Conclave 2024 in Mumbai. 

The Congress, in its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, promised a nationwide caste census. In election rallies, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi promised to ensure reservation based on SC, ST, and OBC numbers, which many suggest are close to over 80%.     

When asked what is it that Gandhi is promising and whether it is going to be a reservation based on the community's numbers, the veteran Congress leader said that reservation in the country is structured in broad categories. "There is SC, ST, and OBC. Within OBC, some states created an MBC (most backward class) or EBC. So it's not caste wise, it's caste plus broad classification into SC, ST, and OBC." 

"SC itself has several divisions...you don't divide it unit by unit. It's SC, ST, and OBC. What Mr Rahul Gandhi meant was if the SC used to be 15% in the central government -- some states at 16-17 -- SC will get 16%. It's not atomic division, subcaste-wise. It's three broad groupings. It's perfect that's worked in this country

Asked specifically that SC, ST, and OBC will be the three broad groupings that will get the benefit of the reservation after caste census, Chidambaram said:  "That's correct." 

The former minister said when the Congress was in government under Dr Manmohan Singh, his party conducted a socioeconomic caste census. "Prior to 1931, every census asked a question of caste. So asking caste in a census in a regular census or in a special census is not unusual or out of line. Asking a question about a person's caste...we had done it in 2011. The data came but the data had to be verified and because there were some statisticians that pointed out some errors we left office in 2014 now if that caste census is verified and it is credible - why did Mr Modi not publish it for 10 years?" 

While the Congress pushes for a caste census, the BJP has taken a cautious stance, frequently questioning why the UPA government didn't release the 2011 caste data.

"There were errors or supposed errors pointed out in the census and therefore we were not able to publish it. If we had come back to Power in 2014, I'm sure the credibility of that socioeconomic caste census with corrections would have been done and published but we did not come back to Power in 2014. If that caste census was good enough, Mr Modi can publish it."

When asked why Karnataka, which had conducted a similar caste survey, did not release the data, Chidambaram said: "Karnataka was a different census, not that census. Don't mix up the central government social economic caste census with whatever Karnataka conducted under its commission."