Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati, on Saturday, made a renewed call for caste census, urging the government to take the required steps in this regard.

“Keeping the census pending is not at all good governance. The exercise of the census is directly linked to nation-building. Therefore, the government needs to be as cautious towards this responsibility as it is in conducting timely elections,” the BSP supremo said.

In a three-page note posted on X, on Saturday, on the 91st birth anniversary of BSP Kanshi Ram,  Mayawati said that such a census was essential for a new path and impetus to overall development and the government must not ignore it any longer.

She pointed out that a parliamentary committee on the issue had also voiced its disappointment at the pending caste census. This is of particular importance to Uttar Pradesh, as more than 80 per cent population of the state and the country comprises the Bahujan, she added.

“To guarantee their welfare legally and constitutionally, a provision of census was made in the Constitution by Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, and its pendency is not good governance,” she pointed out.

“Census work is directly linked to nation building, and the government should remain alert towards this responsibility, just as it is (alert) in conducting elections on time. A parliamentary committee has also expressed concern over not conducting the census,” she said and added, “The government should take the necessary steps soon to show its seriousness on the matter.”

Expressing serious concern over the “disputes” of religion, region, caste, community and language in the country, the BSP chief said, “The root cause of these disputes is narrow, casteist, communal and hateful politics. National problems such as high inflation, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and backwardness have been completely forgotten.”

On the shortage of employment, she said the “empty hands and empty minds of people are adversely affecting the interest of the country”.

“Hence, Kanshi Ram Ji supported the policy of ‘Har Haat Ko Kaam’ (work for every hand). My government worked on this and also helped people from all sections of society in a significant way. The governments of other parties only talk in the air, putting the lives of the people of the state and the country in bad shape. People are fed up now,” she said.

Paying tributes to Kanshi Ram, Mayawati said, “Today, on the birth anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram Ji, the party across the country paid homage to him and resolved to strengthen his movement for social change and economic liberation.

Kanshi Ram’s birth anniversary has not been celebrated with as much zeal as it was when the BSP’s electoral position was stronger. This comes despite Mayawati directing party workers to mark the day with missionary zeal a few days ago.

Before posting the note on X, Mayawati, in a series of tweets, referred to herself as the “iron lady of BSP who believes in action, more than words”.

“The vast population of Uttar Pradesh has seen how the BSP under the leadership of ‘iron lady’ believes more in action than in words. It ensured the all-around development of the Bahujans when in power, while most claims made by the other parties proved baseless and deceptive.’” she said.

The larger note, posted on the party’s official account, drew attention to the numerous religious, linguistic, regional and communal tensions that are growing in the country and the need to nip them. Mayawati was recently critical of the shutting down of private madrasas in Uttarakhand and had called upon the state government to uphold the values of secularism.

She drew attention to the many monuments, memorials, parks, hospitals and universities that had been set up in Kanshi Ram’s name but were disliked by the BSP’s rival parties. One example she chose was the Manyawar Kanshi Ram ji Urdu, Arabic, Persian University in Lucknow, which, she said, was first renamed by the Samajwadi Party as Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University, and then by the Bharatiya Janata Party as Bhasha University — an indication of the “narrow” thought of these parties.