New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday alleged that the Congress is carrying out false and misleading propaganda on Census 2027 because its hope of gaining power by creating division in society is falling apart with the Narendra Modi-led government’s decision to include caste enumeration in the nationwide exercise.
Terming the government’s notification on the 16th census a “damp squib”, the Congress on Monday said it is silent on the inclusion of caste in the exercise and asked whether this is another “U-turn” by the government.
The Home Ministry noted that some misleading information, which stated that there was no mention of caste count in the gazette notification, was being spread and later asserted that the Census 2027 would include caste enumeration.
Lambasting the Congress for “misleading” people with false claims, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that the prime objective of the opposition party by resorting to such a “petty” act is to create confusion in society and gain power.
Since it is witnessing its objective falling apart, the Congress has resorted to spreading “falsehood, deception and lies”, he told reporters at the BJP headquarters here.
Trivedi said the press releases issued by the government had clearly mentioned that along with the census, a socio-economic assessment and caste census would also be conducted.
“Marred by its myopic view and blurred vision, rather a motivated nefarious vision, however, they (Congress) are unable to see what is categorically explained in the Modi government’s decision to conduct the census,” he charged.
They are running completely false and misleading propaganda because they feel that their hopes are not being fulfilled, the Rajya Sabha MP added.
Trivedi alleged that the Congress has always resorted to vote bank politics in the name of caste but did nothing for the backward communities.
“The party decided to stop the caste census (enumeration) in 1951 and did not allow the Kaka Kalekar Commission report and the Mandal Commission report to be released,” he said.
With the ‘Sabka saath, sabka vishwas’ mantra, Trivedi said, the NDA government under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership wants to conduct a census with caste enumeration to ensure “recognition of all castes, respect for all castes and upliftment of the most backward castes”.
On the contrary, the leaders of the Congress and “INDI Alliance” only want the upliftment of their families by creating division in the society on caste lines, the BJP leader charged.
“In 2022, our alliance government in Bihar decided to conduct a caste survey in the state,” the BJP leader said.
Trivedi also raised questions over the Congress government’s decision to conduct a fresh caste survey in Karnataka and asked whether the previous survey conducted with an expenditure of Rs 165 crore was erroneous.
