Modi government avoiding caste census, claims Congress

The Congress has alleged that the Modi government is attempting to shelve the caste census to avoid pressure for OBC women’s reservation. The remarks come ahead of a special Parliament session on amendments to the women’s reservation law

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday alleged that the Modi government wants to “shelve” the caste census as the RSS-BJP has a “Manuvadi mindset” and knows that if the data from that census comes by 2027, there will be pressure on it to provide reservation to OBC women in Parliament as well.

Congress’ OBC Department chairperson Anil ‘JaiHind’ Yadav said women’s reservation is no longer a topic of discussion and now it is only about its implementation.

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“Starting April 16, the Modi government is convening a special session of Parliament, in which the government will bring some amendments. Before this, the Modi government itself had prepared a roadmap for women’s reservation in which it was stated that first, a census will be conducted, delimitation will be done based on that and only then will women’s reservation be implemented,” Yadav said at a press conference here along with AICC SC Department chairman Rajendra Pal Gautam.

The INDIA bloc had urged the government to implement the women quota law right away in 2024, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not listen to anyone, he said.

“Now it’s coming to light that the Modi government will implement it based on the 2011 census, which is no longer appropriate because there have been many changes in demography. If the government had to implement women’s reservation based on 2011, then why was it not done earlier?” he said.

Yadav pointed out that the Census Commissioner has stated that the census data will start becoming available from 2027 itself.

“But now the Modi government wants to amend Article 334(A)… It is clear that the Modi government is blatantly lying and spreading confusion on a large scale. The government’s real hidden agenda is to avoid conducting a caste census and to deprive OBC women of reservation,” he alleged.

In such a scenario, women from the OBC category will not get the opportunity for representation in the Lok Sabha, he said.

“If such a large section is deprived of reservation in a democracy, it is nothing short of murdering democracy outright,” Yadav said.

He alleged that the Modi government took a U-turn on its stand on the caste census due to the pressure exerted by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

“But in reality, RSS-BJP people have a Manuvadi mindset. These people know that if the data from the caste-based census comes by 2027, there will be pressure on them to provide reservations to OBC women as well, and that is the main reason why the Modi government wants to shelve the caste-based census,” he said.

The Budget session of Parliament has been extended, and a special three-day sitting of the House has been convened starting Thursday, during which amendments to the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, more commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Act, will be brought for its implementation in 2029.