Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday promised that the party would remove the 50 per cent limit on reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes in education and government jobs. Gandhi repeated the party’s call for a nationwide caste-based census at a Congress event in Ahmedabad and said the Congress would implement what Telangana has already done across India. The Telangana government recently passed a law increasing reservations for Backward Classes to 42 per cent, taking the state’s total reservations beyond the 50 per cent cap set 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 per cent wall will be broken. What happened in Telangana, we will do in Delhi and for the entire country,” the Opposition Leader in Lok Sabha declared at the Congress meeting.

Gandhi highlighted that in Telangana, around 90% of the population includes OBCs, highly backward communities, Dalits, especially those who are most marginalised, along with minorities and Adivasis. He said this reflects the vaster demographic picture seen across the country. He also mentioned the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision on the Mandal Commission case, which limited reservations for SCs, STs, and OBCs to 50% of available seats or jobs. The Congress party has consistently opposed this cap, arguing that it limits opportunities for disadvantaged groups and needs re-evaluation to ensure equal access to education, employment, and resources.

While addressing a 'Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan' in Patna on Monday, Rahul 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”.

During a separate gathering in Ahmedabad, Gandhi also accused the BJP of having an “anti-Dalit mindset”. He pointed to a recent incident in Rajasthan, where a former BJP MLA allegedly used Ganga water to “purify” a temple after opposition leader Tikaram Jully took part in a consecration ceremony there.