Caste Census Not a Sudden Move: BJP Leaders
BJP defends caste census decision as move for social justice, slams Congress for past failures and political opportunism.
Hyderabad: Telangana BJP president and Union minister G. Kishan Reddy said that the decision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs to conduct caste enumeration along with forthcoming census was not a sudden decision, but was announced after thorough deliberations to protect the interests all sections of society and ensure social justice, unlike Congress and its ‘INDI alliance’ which used the caste census as a political tool to divide society and cause friction.
Talking to newsmen in Delhi, Kishan Reddy pointed out that the socio economic caste census conducted by the Congress-led UPA government in 2011 was a huge failure as it was done with poor planning and “showed 46 lakh castes and contained 8.19 crore mistakes.” He said that after spending Rs 4,893.60 crore on the exercise, the UPA government never released its findings.
Claiming the party’s long-standing support to the exercise, BJP OBC Morcha president Dr K. Laxman said that way back in 2010, then opposition leader Sushma Swaraj had given a letter to then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee about the BJP’s commitment for caste census. The Modi-led BJP government had given legal sanctity to BC Commission in 2018, he said. On the other hand, the Congress right from the days of Jawaharlal Nehru and Moulana Abul Kalam Azad had openly opposed a caste census. Dr Laxman said former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had opposed the Mandal Commission report and had stated in Parliament that Muslims were lagging behind educationally, socially and financially than Backward Classes communities.
Stating that the census was likely to take place in 2026, Dr Laxman said that the caste survey carried out by the Revanth Reddy government in Telangana was an 'anti-BC survey’. Religion-based caste reservations in the state had affected the BC community in education, employment and other sectors. Muslims had won 30 of the 50 seats reserved for the BC communities out of 150 wards in the GHMC, Dr Laxman claimed.
BC Welfare Association president R. Krishanaiah, a BJP MP from AP, welcomed the decision and announced that he would withdraw the case filed in the Supreme Court in this regard. Thanking RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat, as the government took a decision on the caste census after his recent meeting with the Prime Minister. Krishnaiah expressed the hope that the government would constitute a separate ministry for the BC community.
BJP Malkajgiri MP Etala Rajendar said that the Centre’s decision was a big slap on the Congress which he accused of shedding crocodile tears but not doing anything for the weaker sections. He said that the BJP made a member of OBC community member as Prime Minister in 2014, a Dalit as President in 2014 and a tribal as President in 2021. The Prime Minister has accommodated 27 from the OBC communities, 12 SCs, eight STs and five members from the minority communities in the Union Cabinet, he said.