After Ajsu-P, JMM & Cong favour caste-based census

Ranchi: Days after BJP’s ally Ajsu-P wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a caste-based census in the country, ruling alliance partners JMM and Congress also joined the chorus for such a head-count for the National Population Register 2021.
JMM central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharjee said, “We are in favour of a caste-based census. The Union government is scared to conduct it, as such an exercise will reveal that the creamy layers of society, which consists of Brahmins, Rajputs and others, hold the maximum representation in positions of power and a larger pie of the government jobs.
Stating that JMM will carry out protests to demand a caste-based census, Bhattacharjee added, “Fearing that such a census will let the cats out of the bag, the Centre has refused to conduct it.”
The Congress party also rallied behind a caste based census. “Our state president Rameshwar Oraon is of the view that caste based census is imperative as it will give a true picture of the state’s and the country’s social status. Though the national census has not been conducted on caste lines, the Centre had in fact conducted a separate socio-economic caste census but did not make its findings public for some reasons,” Jharkhand Congress spokesperson Alok Dubey claimed.
Last week, Ajsu-P chief Sudesh Mahto had written to Modi demanding a caste-based census. In his letter, Mahto claimed that not holding a caste based census will mean that the real picture of the backward classes will not be known and that in turn, will result in a flawed implementation of social justice and social welfare schemes.