Telangana CM Revanth Reddy's old statement on caste survey comes back to haunt him

New Delhi: A 2014 video of Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy in which he attacked the then TRS government, headed by K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, for conducting an intensive household survey aimed at collecting the socio-economic data about citizens to identify the real beneficiaries of the welfare schemes, has come back to haunt him.

Soon after taking over as the chief minister after Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, KCR announced the survey to seek details of households, educational qualifications of their members, their post office savings, bank account details, mobile phone numbers, Aadhaar card numbers and gas connection details.

Though the move had triggered controversy following allegations that the exercise had been planned to identify Seemandhra natives, the survey had entered into the Limca Book of Records given that enumeration involved 4 lakh government employees who covered over 1.09 crore households in a single day on August 19, 2014, between 7 am and 8 pm.

Revanth Reddy, then a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator, had strongly opposed the move, insisting that the people of Telangana cannot share their personal details with any 'Tom, Dick or Harry'.

“Today, the State government is sending some unknown people and seeking all details pertaining to bank accounts, children, and assets. How can people share such details with unknown people, does any man with a sound head take up such work?” Revanth Reddy is heard saying this in the old video, which has now gone viral on various social media platforms.

In this 2014 video, Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy can be heard opposing the caste survey done by the KCR government. Today, the Telangana govt is conducting a caste survey.#TelanganaCasteCensus #TelanganaCM pic.twitter.com/PdsfNkyMEc

— NewsDrum (@thenewsdrum) November 14, 2024

Ten years later, these remarks have come back to bite Revanth Reddy as his government has ordered a month-long caste survey in the state.

However, the exercise that began on November 9 has been facing resistance from the people who have expressed apprehension over some of the questions asked in the survey regarding religion, caste, property, income, PAN, Aadhaar, and even details of the loans taken by them. 

The enumerators are encountering defiance and non-cooperation from residents in many villages and towns over the government's move to gather personal information in 75 questions asked in the caste survey.