NEW DELHI: Ahead of the beginning of the nationwide Census exercise, JD (U) and Samajwadi Party (SP) in the Parliament sought caste-based census in the country. Members of the political parties made the demand while participating in the debate in the motion of thanks to the President’s address.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that his party has raised similar demands during UPA regime but nothing happened.
“Why do we want to hide? If we would not get to know that how many of us are there, what is the benefit,” he said. Similarly, Rajiv Ranjan Singh of JD (U) said that there was a need to determine the exact composition of our population and extend reservation benefits accordingly.
“How can the slogan of sabka sath, sabka vikas sabka vishwas can be converted into reality if we don’t know who is standing in the last queue of development."
He said that SC, ST population is marked during the census exercise and henc they are able to get government benefits.
Singh also said that various communities have different claims of their respective population strength and if they go by them, the actual population will be thrice of what it is currently.
He said that caste-based census will help in policy-making for the Centre. JD (U), BJP’s ally at the Centre, also made a strong pitch for CAA and slammed the Opposition for protesting against it and misleading the country on the issue, he asserted.
Earlier Demand
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that his party has raised similar demands during UPA regime but nothing happened.