Rahul Gandhi vows to 'break the wall' of 50% cap on reservation

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (File photo/PTI)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his party will "break the wall" that has capped reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs at 50 percent.

At the AICC session in Ahmedabad, Rahul Gandhi said, "We will demolish the wall that is restricting reservation to 50 percent for SCs, STs and OBCs."

The Congress has been calling for raising the 50 percent cap on reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs. It has also been demanding a nationwide caste census to ensure equal share for all according to their population

Gandhi lauded Congress-ruled Telangana for showing the path to the country by conducting the caste survey. He said that Congress would replicate across the country what Telangana had recently implemented. The Telangana government had passed a bill raising the reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) to 42 per cent, pushing the state’s total reservations beyond the 50 per cent ceiling imposed by the Supreme Court.

“Telangana has taken a revolutionary step and shown the way to the country. I want to assure you that this 50 percent wall will be broken. What happened in Telangana, we will do in Delhi and for the entire country,” the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said at the Congress meeting.

Gandhi referred to the Supreme Court's 1992 ruling in the Mandal Commission case, which capped reservations for SCs, STs, and OBCs at 50 per cent of available seats or positions. The Congress has consistently called for the removal of this cap, arguing that it restricts opportunities for marginalised communities and must be reconsidered to ensure fairer access to education, employment, and resources, according to a report by India Today.

Earlier in Patna, while speaking at the 'Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan', Gandhi said, “I told Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha, right in front of him: if you don't dismantle this artificial 50 per cent barrier on reservations, we will break it, destroy it, and throw it away.”