It was the need of the hour: Union Minister Chirag Paswan on caste-enumeration

Union Minister and LJP (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the centre’s decision to include the enumeration of caste in the next census, LJP (Ramvilas) chief and Union Minister Chirag Paswan said, it was the need of the hour. 

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Paswan hit out at the Opposition for vying to take credit and claiming that the step was taken under their pressure.

He singled out the Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of exploiting the issue for electoral benefit, even though the Congress governments both at the centre and State did nothing about it in the past when they were in power.

Mr. Paswan also said that he was often cornered for divergence in his view on the caste-census with his ally BJP. While, Mr. Paswan advocated for a caste-census, the BJP, till Wednesday’s announcement, stood against it, arguing that the caste-count will be divisive. 

“Yesterday, the NDA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a very important decision. It was the need of the hour, “ the Minister said.

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It will help bring those sections of society that were not receiving any benefits of government schemes or the reservation policy into the mainstream, Mr. Paswan said. “Rahul Gandhi’s party was in power at the Centre for many years, and three members of his family have been Prime Ministers in independent India. But they did not take any steps to hold a caste census, he said. “It’s only Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had the will to do it,” Mr. Paswan added. 

Mr. Paswan termed the caste surveys conducted in the Congress-ruled Karnataka and Telangana as non-transparent and motivated by politics. He rejected the opposition charge that the Modi government has decided to include caste enumeration in the next census with an eye on elections, particularly in Bihar. “Had it been so, we would have done it ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” Mr. Paswan contended.