Lucknow: In the winter session of Uttar Pradesh assembly the legislators from opposition parties have been mounting pressure for debate on caste census. However, outside assembly the leaders of Samajwadi Party and ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) have been engaged in verbal duel on this issue.
Amidst all this the Deputy Chief Minister of UP, Keshav Maurya made a big statement on Thursday. Maurya said that he himself as well as other senior leaders of his party want caste census. While reacting to the statement of SP leader Shivpal Yadav on caste census, Maurya said that only the union government can take a decision in this regard and none else. He said that SP is anti-Dalit, poor and backward and it did nothing for the welfare of these communities when in power. He said that it is the task of the government to conduct a census and the union government would chalk out a programme for it. Dy CM said that now SP is talking about backwards whom it had forgotten during its own regime.
Earlier the SP leader Shivpal Yadav had raised the demand for caste census in UP and said that his party is completely in favour of it. He called upon the backward leaders of BJP to mount pressure on their high command in this regard. He said that either the BJP government should announce the date of caste census or accept that it is an impossible task for them.
Demand to extend tenure of winter session
Legislator of Apna Dal, an ally of SP, Pallavi Patel said that BJP does not debate on caste census in assembly. She demanded that the tenure of winter session be increased to conduct debate on caste census. Apna Dal leader said that the entire opposition wants this issue to be taken up in the assembly but to avoid this the government has curtailed the numbers of house meetings.
A day before the chief of SP, Akhilesh Yadav had raised the demand for caste census. Congress too is seen vocal on this issue in the winter session of UP assembly. Leader of congress legislators, Aradhana Mishra Mona said that her leader Rahul Gandhi has been raising this demand since long and even spoke on it in the parliament. It may be mentioned that SP had raised this issue in the legislative council of UP also and staged a walkout on Wednesday.
