The Telangana government will introduce a Bill to provide 42% reservation for Backward Classes in politics, education, and employment in the first week of March, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka announced on Wednesday, February 12.
The Deputy CM announced that people who could not participate in the survey for various reasons may share their details with the enumerators from February 16 to 28. He urged the remaining 3.1% population that has not been covered by the survey as per government estimates, to avail the opportunity.
The Telangana caste survey was conducted in November-December 2024, and its preliminary findings were announced in the first week of February. The numbers raised questions from the opposition parties, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who questioned the survey’s credibility and accused the Congress government of deliberately undercounting BCs.
Telangana caste census raises serious questions: Is BC population being undercounted?
The caste survey was a major poll promise made by Congress ahead of the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections, to extend reservations to marginalised communities in proportion to their population. The party had also promised to increase the BC reservations in local bodies from 23% to 42%, and to implement 42% BC reservation in the government’s civil construction and maintenance contracts.
On Thursday, February 13, Telangana Backward Classes Welfare and Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar asked the leaders of the BRS to prove their sincerity by participating in the caste survey. The Minister said this was not a re-survey as BRS leaders alleged.
Branding the BJP as a party of businessmen, Prabhakar alleged that the party does not want caste census, BC reservation, and sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes. He accused BJP leaders of criticising BCs and Muslims for political mileage.
Ponnam Prabhakar said reservations would be provided in Telangana in tune with the people's aspirations. He pointed out that the poor among the Muslim community are part of BCs.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar on February 13 said that Muslims will not be accepted as part of the BC list, and warned of a ‘revolt’ by Hindus if they are included.
Bandi Sanjay reiterated that the BJP is unequivocally against religion-based reservations. “Including Muslims in the BC category will deprive BCs of their rightful reservations. If Muslims are included in BC, the entire Hindu society will revolt. Congress will face consequences in the elections for Members of the Legislative Council. If Congress is sincere, it must remove Muslims from the BC list,” he stated.
There are at least 162 communities categorised as Backward Classes in Telangana, classified into five groups – A, B, C, D, E. Of these, Group C consists of Scheduled Castes converted to Christianity, and Group E consists of socially and educationally Backward Classes of Muslims.
Bandi Sanjay Kumar also slammed the Congress party for delaying local body elections, alleging that the party lacks the courage to contest the polls. “Doesn’t Congress realise Telangana will suffer if local elections are not held by March? Despite knowing that the 15th Finance Commission grants will be halted, they are delaying elections. The funds have been stalled twice already," he said.
On local body polls, Ponnam Prabhakar said the elections would be conducted after completion of the survey. A special session of the Legislature would be convened to provide 42% reservation to BCs in local bodies. He also told the opposition parties that if they are sincere about the welfare of BCs, they should not stall the passage of the Bill.
The government's decision to conduct another round of caste survey comes after criticism from the opposition, which raised doubts about the numbers announced in the state Assembly on February 4.
They questioned the decline in the population of BCs from 61% (including Muslim BCs) as revealed in the integrated household survey conducted by BRS in 2014, to 56.33% in the recent caste survey conducted by the Congress government.