Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Amid growing demand from the Opposition parties for caste census in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP government on Friday categorically said that it had no plans to conduct a caste-based census in the state.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a written reply to a question in this regard by Samajwadi Party (SP) member Sangram Singh Yadav in the state Assembly, said that it was the Centre that conducted the census.
The SP members also raised the issue in the state Legislative Council where UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya remarked there was no such plan as of now. Maurya also accused the SP of trying to raise the issue of caste census with an eye on the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
The SP members, however, created a ruckus in the House and insisted on holding a discussion on the issue though their demand was rejected by the Chair. The council was adjourned for about 15 minutes after the SP members did not relent and continued to try and raise the issue.
The Opposition parties, including the SP, BSP, and the Congress have been demanding a Bihar-like caste-based census in UP also. SP president Akhilesh Yadav had made it clear that his party would have the issue on its agenda in the next LS polls.
''Why is this government reluctant to conduct a caste-based census?....What is it afraid of?,'' asked SP leader Sangram Singh Yadav.
BSP supremo Mayawati has also demanded a caste census in the state as well as in the entire country and sought to compare the same with that of the implementation of the Mandal Commission report. ''A caste census is in the interest of social justice and social equality,'' Mayawati had said recently.
Even the BJP allies in the state government seem to be in support of a caste-based census. The Nishad Party and the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) have asked the government to conduct such a census.