BJP betrayed backward sections for 9.5 years, is rattled after Bihar caste census: Congress

The Congress claimed on Tuesday that the BJP is rattled after the findings of a caste census in Bihar were made public and accused the ruling party at the Centre of betraying the backward classes for nine years and a half.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that BJP is running away from providing social justice to people and that is why it is not conducting a caste census across the country.

"Those handing over the country's entire wealth to their close friends, those who made fun of the MGNREGA, those who forced workers to walk thousands of kilometres during Covid, those who opposed the Food Security Act are today talking about the poor," Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X.

"The truth is that they are scared. In the last nine years and a half, they have betrayed the backward classes. That is why they are running away from social justice and a caste census," he said.

Congress's Other Backward Classes (OBC) department chairman Ajay Yadav said the Bihar government released the findings of its caste census on the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on Monday and raised many serious questions on the participation of OBCs in educational institutions, the judiciary and other institutions of the country.

"The BJP is rattled by the caste census data released by the Bihar government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says this will disturb the social order and the Congress is committing a sin by talking about castes. Is this a sin? What can be a greater virtue than this that we are talking about economically weak people?" Yadav asked at a press conference here.

He pointed out that the caste-based census in Bihar has shown that the backward class accounts for 63 per cent of the state's population.

But when the Nitish Kumar government was conducting the exercise, those associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) tried their best to prevent it, the Congress leader alleged, adding that this census will help the poor people of Bihar.

"The caste-based census data released by the Bihar government has changed the political direction of the country. With this, people will know that there is such a population in the country which cannot be ignored politically, economically or socially," Yadav said.

Many senior Congress leaders had put pressure on the government to release the report of a caste census conducted in 2011, he said, adding, "I do not know what the BJP is afraid of."

Yadav also thanked the Bihar government for conducting the caste census for the 'Bahujan Samaj', saying, "It has shown a direction to the central government to conduct a caste census (at the national level)."