The ruling BJP, which has ruled out caste census as demanded by many opposition parties including its own allies like Janata Dal (U) in Bihar and Apna Dal (S) in UP on Friday, took a dig at what it called “one caste parties” and sought to know how much power-sharing or representation they have themselves given to various social groups.
BJP, which in the last Parliament session debate, gave some faint indication that they may go for the caste-census ( read OBC), has finally settled for its original official stand that caste census would be restricted to SCs and STs.
An OBC caste census, many political observers see, may pave way for a volatile mandal-2 and disrupt the reservation arithmetic in the country.
JD (U) had recently asked the Modi-Government to hasten with the announcement of a caste-census. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is seeking to strengthen his party’s OBC vote-bank by way of triggering a politically sensitive OBC caste-census in the State. Former deputy-Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi had also backed caste-census in Bihar and other States.
A day before the Modi Government, in an affidavit in the Supreme Court, had virtually ruled out caste census in the country.
BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi took a swipe at parties advocating it and asked how much representation have they given to different social groups in their organisations and among elected representatives.
He said there could be varying stand on the issue from various political parties including the BJP allies. Mos of the regional parties which draw their core support from some of the Other Backward Classes, are pitching for a caste census.
Addressing a press conference here, Trivedi criticised parties such as the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party, all of whom have called for caste census, alleging their leaders were projected as leaders of the poor and deprived communities but they ended up promoting their own families.
Asked about the government’s stand on the issue, he said it has taken a position on “technical grounds”.
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav used to be called “dharti putra” (son of the soil) but he ended up promoting his son. Mayawati, addressed as “behan” (sister) by her admirers, spoke of the deprived communities but groomed her brother,” Trivedi.
He also attacked the RJD for its alleged family rule and corruption.