'BJP not against caste-based census': Sushil Kumar Modi ahead of Nitish Kumar's meet with Prime Minister

'BJP not against caste-based census': Sushil Kumar Modi ahead of Nitish Kumar's meet with Prime Minister

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Monday, August 23, 2021, 11:59 AM IST
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Ahead of Nitish Kumar-led cross-party delegation's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday said that his party is not against the caste-based census.

Taking to Twitter, Sushil Kumar Modi in a series of tweets said: "The BJP was never against caste-based census, we have also been part of resolutions passed in the legislative assembly and council in its support. The delegation that will meet PM Modi also includes a BJP representative."

In another tweet, Sushil Kumar Modi said in 2011, BJP's Gopinath Munde had presented the party's side in Parliament in favour of the caste census.

"When the then government conducted a social, economic and caste-based assessment, there were shortcomings in data. The number of communities ran into lakhs. That report was not made public because of the errors. It was not part of the Census," he said.

The last time a caste-based count took place was in 1931, under British rule, when Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha were one entity.

In another tweet, Sushil Kumar Modi said, "At the time, of around 1 crore people in Bihar, only people of 22 castes were counted. After 90 years, there are big differences now - economic, social, geographical and political. There are technical and practical difficulties in a caste-based census, but still, the BJP supports it in principle."

Sushil Kumar Modi's statement comes after the BJP had firmly stated in the Parliament’s recently concluded Monsoon Session that it will not undertake a caste-based survey as a policy matter.

On July 20, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had said: "The Government of India has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise populations other than SCs and STs in the census."

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar led ten parties delegation including Janata Dal (United), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and others will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to demand caste-based census.

Besides Bihar Chief Minister, other members of the delegation will be RJD's Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who is also the minister for education and parliamentary affairs, former Chief Minister and President of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) Jitan Ram Manjhi, Congress legislature party leader Ajeet Sharma and BJP leader and Bihar minister Janak Ram, CPI-ML legislature party leader Mahboob Alam, Akhtarul Imam of AIMIM, Mukesh Sahni of VIP, Suryakant Paswan of CPI and Ajay Kunar of CPM.

(With inputs from ANI)

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