The Congress on Monday questioned why the notification of the census was silent on the inclusion of the caste and was it a “U-turn” by the government.
The Gazette notification of the Union Home Ministry announced on Monday that the census would be done in 2027. On 30 April, the government announced that the census of the population would include a caste census. Union Home Minister Amit Shah then described it as a “historic decision” by the government by “committed to social justice”.
Congress Communications in-charge Jayer Ramesh said that the Gazette notification was silent on the inclusion of caste in the 16th census. “Is this so far another U-turn by U-Tur-Ustad? Or will the details be announced later?” Asked Ramesh.
He described the notification as “Nam Squeb” and stated that it repeats “only on 30 April”.
“It is completely due to the perseverance and urge of the Indian National Congress that the PM surrendered to the demand for a caste census. He called Congress leaders to urban Naxal to demand this. In Parliament and Supreme Court, the Modi government had a lot of consideration about a caste census.”
He said that the government should adopt a Telangana model not only for the calculation of caste, but also to bring data on caste-wise socio-economic parameters.
In response, the BJP accused the Congress of cheating India’s OBC and EWS communities during its tenure in power.
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Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav asked who would pay 165 crores spent to conduct a caste survey to the state of Karnataka, which will now be held again. He alleged that the Congress is aimed at ensuring social engineering and “appeasement politics” under the guise of social justice.
“It came only after the arrival of the Modi government that issues related to reservation in universities and schools were resolved, but people of these communities also came out of poverty … Karnataka is the latest example of this – Congress OBC, never with EWS,” Yadav told reporters on Monday.
He said, “Who is responsible for expensive exercise in Karnataka? There is a political cover for appeasement in revision, to incite some communities,” he alleged.
Yadav questioned whether in Karnataka too, “Additional-constitutional bodies like NAC (National Advisory Council) were in the game”.
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Ramesh of Congress said in another statement that “history should be kept separate”.
“The BJP withdrew its support to the VP Singh government in the Mandal Commission in August 1991, and they started the Commandal Movement to counter the Mandali movement. Let’s not come in this history. I can also go into this history as to how in November 1949, how the RSS opposed the Constitution of India. Let’s keep the history aside,” he said.
(T T
