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By Raajnandini Mukherjee: With the Lok Sabha elections set to be held next year, Opposition parties, which are trying to come together to form a united front against the BJP, have been pressing the ruling dispensation for a caste-based census.
The Congress, JD(U), Samajwadi Party and RJD have all started vociferously demanding a caste census.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was addressing a gathering in Karnataka’s Bidar on Monday, said “the underprivileged need economic and political power and not empty words”. He also promised that the Congress would conduct a caste-based census as soon as it forms the government in Maharashtra.
“…If we want to take OBC in the country forward and give them their rights, the first step would be for the Prime Minister to release data of the OBC census. PM will never do this as he doesn’t want the welfare of OBCs. Congress will do this as soon as we get the opportunity,” said Gandhi.
On Sunday, Rahul Gandhi dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put the 2011 caste-based census data in the public domain and also demanded reservations for Dalits and tribals based on their population.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also shot a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding an up-to-date caste census, saying meaningful social justice and empowerment programmes are incomplete without such data.
In the letter, Kharge noted that for the first time, the UPA government conducted a Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) during 2011-12, covering some 25 crore households.
“For a number of reasons, however, the caste data could not get published even though the Congress and other MPs demanded its release after your government came to power in May 2014,” Kharge said.
“In the absence of an updated caste census, I am afraid a reliable database so very essential for meaningful social justice and empowerment programmes, particularly for OBCs, is incomplete. This Census is the responsibility of the Union Government,” Kharge said.
“We demand that it be done immediately and that a comprehensive Caste Census be made its integral part,” Kharge said.
On Rahul Gandhi’s demand for OBC reservation, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Bagehl said, “We have been demanding this. We have passed it in the Assembly…Our Reservation Bill has been put on hold. This is affecting the beneficiaries.”
Baghel also said that maximum number of churches have come up during the BJP rule and that the maximum religious conversions have also taken place.
Backing the Congress’s demand for a caste-based census, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and chief of Janata Dal United Nitish Kumar said the move would be beneficial for all sections of society.
The BJP unit in Bihar had supported a resolution at an all-party meeting convened by Nitish Kumar and later a unanimous resolution was passed in the Bihar Assembly on caste census. However, the BJP’s central leadership is yet to respond to the demand for a socio-economic and caste census raised now by the Congress.
“Take these three steps: Make the 2011 census figures public, tell how many OBCs are there in the country and remove the 50 percent cap on reservations. Give reservation to Dalits, tribals according to their population,” he said.
“We have been in favour of the caste census right from the very beginning. When the central government refused to do so, we decided to conduct the caste survey on our own. It is going on in the state. The exercise will provide data to the government for carrying out works for the benefit of weaker sections of the society”, Kumar told reporters in Patna.
Bihar is conducting a caste census in two phases. Data regarding the number of households, castes, sub-castes and religions is being collected.
Even Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Nitish Kumar’s deputy Tejashvi Yadav said that the caste-based reservation should not be limited to Bihar itself but should be there for the whole country.
Members of the Samajwadi Party had in February protested in the well of the Uttar Pradesh assembly and forced an adjournment, demanding a caste-based census in the state.
Samajwadi Party MP, Sangram Yadav, asked whether the UP government would conduct a caste-based census in the state before the 2024 election. Protests started after UP agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi said that the powers to conduct a caste survey rests with the Centre, and not with the state government.
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