BHUBANESWAR: With the Union Cabinet on Wednesday allowing caste survey during the next census, the Opposition BJD and Congress said their stand has been vindicated and the decision is a victory of social justice.
Welcoming the decision, leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik said the BJD has been repeatedly demanding country-wide caste census and removal of 50 per cent (pc) cap on reservation.
Naveen said the BJD government had taken certain concrete steps in 2023 to enumerate the number of people belonging to different classes to help us in making plans for their development and upliftment.
Stating that the same objectives would now be met by the decision of the Centre to conduct a caste-based census, the former chief minister said the BJD always stands for social justice especially for backward classes such as ST, SC and OBC.
President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Bhakta Charan Das and senior Congress leader Srikant Jena also welcomed the decision and said the demand was being raised by leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi from the beginning.
The Congress leaders also celebrated the decision of the Union Cabinet at the Congress Bhawan here on Wednesday.
Odisha was among the states to conduct a survey of the socially and economically backward classes (SEBCs) during the tenure of Naveen as CM in 2023. The survey conducted by the Odisha State Commission for backward classes had found over 39.31 pc of Odisha’s population belonged to SEBCs.
The commission was set up by the BJD government in February, 2023 under the provisions of the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes Act of 1993. Out of the projected population of over 4.95 crore in 2023, over 1.94 crore SEBCs had participated in the survey. The population of the state according to the 2011 survey was over 4.19 crore.
The survey in Odisha which came close on the heels of the OBC survey in Bihar found that six districts, had more than 50 pc SEBC population. Five districts had more than 45 pc SEBC population. Eight districts had SEBC population varying from 30 to 45 pc.
The rest 11 districts, mostly tribal dominated, were found to be moderately SEBC population inhabited. The then BJD government, however, did not make the report public. However, the regional party continued to raise the issue of a caste- based census before the 2024 elections and again in January, 2025.