Caste Census Won't Eradicate Poverty: Prashant Kishor Challenges Rahul Gandhi To Conduct The Exercise In Congress-Ruled States

Political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor slammed Congress for its caste status demand, saying that the exercise will not help in eradicating poverty.

He said if caste census is truly beneficial, then the Congress should conduct it in the states where it is in power and eradicate the poverty.  

This comes as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been raising the issue of caste census consistently to corner the Central government.

"Rahul Gandhi should tell where was his wisdom for 60 years. For the last 60 years, your party was in power. You should have conducted caste census and eradicated poverty. If we believe that now you have got this wisdom, you should at least conduct caste census in states - Karnataka, Telangana, and Himachal - where you are in power and eradicate the poverty," Kishor said while speaking to reporters.  

"If caste census removed poverty...Bihar has done caste census, whose poverty has been eradicated here?" he asked.

"Wherever Congress has a government, they should conduct a caste census and eradicate poverty there...we will carry their flag around and will follow that model," he added.

"A caste census or any other survey helps you understand the condition of different sections of society," Kishor said.

He added that unless any action is taken, that information won't help.

"It's known that people are poor, but the way to lift them out of poverty needs to be shown. Bihar is the poorest and most backward state in the country. Is a census needed for this? Everyone already knows it," he said.

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