BJP accuses Cong of carrying out ‘false’ propaganda on Census; Govt’s intention is to manage narrative, says Oppn party

PTI, NEW DELHI, JUNE 17: The BJP on Tuesday alleged that the Congress is carrying out "false and misleading" propaganda on Census 2027 because its hope of gaining power by creating division in society is falling apart with the Narendra Modi-led Union government's decision to include caste enumeration in the nationwide exercise.

Terming the government's notification on the 16th Census as a "damp squib", the Congress on Monday said it is silent on the inclusion of caste in the exercise and asked whether this is another "U-turn" by the government. Noting that some misleading information was being spread, stating that there was no mention of caste count in the gazette notification, the Home Ministry later asserted that Census 2027 would include caste enumeration.

Lambasting the Congress for "misleading" people with false claims, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that the prime objective of the Opposition party in resorting to such a "petty" act is to create confusion in society and gain power. "Since it is witnessing its objective falling apart, the Congress has resorted to spreading falsehood, deception, and lies," Trivedi told newspersons at the BJP headquarters here.

According to him, the press releases issued by the government had clearly mentioned that along with the census, a socio-economic assessment and caste census would also be conducted. "Marred by its myopic view and blurred vision, rather a motivated nefarious vision, however, they (Congress) are unable to see what is categorically explained in the Modi government's decision to conduct the census," he charged. "They are running completely false and misleading propaganda because they feel that their hopes are not being fulfilled," the Rajya Sabha MP added.

Trivedi alleged that the Congress has always done vote-bank politics in the name of caste but did nothing for the backward communities. "The party decided to stop the caste census (enumeration) in 1951 and did not allow the Kaka Kalekar Commission report and the Mandal Commission report to be released," he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress on Tuesday accused the Centre of delaying the caste census, saying its intention appears to be to "buy time, grab headlines, and manage the narrative," and asked the government to be transparent about the exercise. Congress General Secretary Sachin Pilot said the objective cannot just be to collect data on an individual's caste but to understand the living conditions of these families and create policies to substantially improve their livelihoods.

Pilot said there are doubts about the government's intentions on the caste census and pointed out that the required funding for the census is Rs 10,000 crore, whereas the government has allocated only Rs 574 crore. "The demand for a caste census was led by the Congress party, particularly by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, who has been raising this issue for several years. Due to the party's continuous and forceful demand, the Modi government has yielded and announced a caste census. However, the facts and figures tell a different story," Pilot said at a press conference at the Congress' Indira Bhawan headquarters here on Tuesday.