BJP hits out at opposition over caste census, calls them nepotistic
The development comes a day after the Union government, in its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, termed the 2011 caste census “unusable” for any official purpose on account of grave “inaccuracies”
Amid growing demands from Opposition parties for a nationwide caste census, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday hit back at them and asked how much representation they have given to different social groups in their organisations and among elected representatives.
The development comes a day after the Union government, in its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, termed the 2011 caste census “unusable” for any official purpose on account of grave “inaccuracies”, and asserted that it was also against collecting any information on castes or backward classes, other than Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), during the upcoming population census in 2022.
At a press conference on Friday, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi criticised parties calling for a caste census and accused them of nepotism
“Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav used to be called dharti putra (son of the soil) but he ended up promoting his son. Mayawati, addressed as behanji (sister) by her admirers, spoke of the deprived communities but only thought of her brother,” Trivedi said.
He added that, unlike other parties that only speak about the empowerment of people from backward castes, the BJP has walked the talk on development for all. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy is clear. He believes in Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas…and welfare measures have been extended to all irrespective of their castes,” he said.
Asked about the government’s stand on the issue, he said it has taken a position on “technical grounds”.
Apart from the opposition parties, BJP allies -- the Janata Dal (United) and Apna Dal -- too have been at the forefront of seeking caste-based enumeration.
On August 23, an 11-member delegation led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand caste-wise enumeration of OBCs in the 2021 census. Most advocates say that not knowing the numbers of the various OBC communities prevents the creation of targeted interventions for their welfare. However, in July, Nityanand Rai, the minister of state for home affairs, stated in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha that the Union government has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise populations other than SCs and STs in the census.
A BSP leader who does not wished to be named said the BSP has appointed a leader coming from backward community Bhim Rajbhar as BSP state unit president.
