Despite no announcement from the Uttar Pradesh government for a caste-based census in the state, Deputy CM and key BJP leader Keshav Prasad Maurya on Saturday backed the demand for it and said he is “all for it”. This can be considered a significant turn in OBC politics in the state, as the BJP-led stat government has shown indication that it will follow the Bihar example, where a caste census has been announced.
“I am all for it,” Keshav Prasad Maurya said during an interaction with reporters on Saturday, adding, “neither me, nor my party are in opposition on the subject.” When asked about states announcing caste census, he said, “That is each state’s own prerogative. What can I say?”
Notably, back in 2022 when Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had raised a demand for a caste census in UP, BJP had opposed it saying Akhilesh Yadav did nothing when he was chief minister for five years till 2017 and never demanded caste census from the UPA government then headed by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a PTI report said.
The key purpose of a caste census is to identify caste groups that are unrepresented or underrepresented. It would help the government rework social justice rollout.
“How can I say if they are acting against the Constitution?” Maurya said to queries on the caste census in Bihar though he firmly made it clear that the BJP and he were not against the demand.
Meanwhile, a caste survey is underway in Bihar. The decision to undertake the survey was taken by the state government in June last year after the Centre made it clear that it was reluctant to include castes other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the census.
During its first term, the Yogi government had undertaken a ‘samajik nyay (social justice)’ survey though the survey committee report, which outlined more representation for lesser represented Dalit and OBC groups, hasn’t been implemented yet.
The demand for a caste census – or scientific count of castes last undertaken in 1931 (a caste count was also done in 2011 but its data wasn’t shared), a Hindustan Times report stated.
A caste census in Uttar Pradesh has been a long-pending demand of the SP. In its manifesto for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the party had promised to conduct a caste census in the state within three months if it was voted to power.
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