NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday demanded that the government allocate funds to initiate the caste census with "complete transparency".
His comments came within hours of the government announcing that caste enumeration would be included in the forthcoming census exercise in a "transparent" manner.
Addressing a press conference, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of "avoiding the implementation of this policy of social justice while accusing the opposition of the dividing society" of the lines of caste.
"The Congress demands allocation of budget for starting caste census work with complete transparency," he said while asserting that caste census is necessary and the progress of every person cannot be fully ensured in the absence of participatory justice.
Kharge told the press conference that the Congress had continuously raised the demand for caste census with the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi being its most vocal supporter.
"Today, the Modi government has announced to conduct a caste census along with the census. This is the right step which we have been demanding from day one. I raised it multiple times in Parliament and also wrote a letter to the prime minister."
"The leaders of the INDIA bloc have also demanded caste census many times and this became an important issue in the Lok Sabha elections.
Time and again, Modi ji kept avoiding implementing this policy of social justice and kept falsely accusing the opposition of dividing the society," the Congress president said.
Stressing the need for a caste census for all sections of society, Kharge said that in the absence of such data, ensuring meaningful social justice and implementing empowerment programmes remains incomplete.
"There is an allocation of only Rs 575 crore for the census in this year's budget. So it is appropriate to ask how and when the government will complete it."
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he welcomes the government's "sudden" decision to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census after "11 years of opposing it" but it should give a timeline for its implementation.
Addressing a press conference, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, "We support this (government's decision) completely but we want a timeline. We want to know by when it will be done."
Welcoming the Narendra Modi dispensation's "sudden" decision to include caste enumeration in the census exercise after "11 years of opposing it", he said, "This is the first step and Telangana is a model for caste census."
While reiterating the demand for removing the 50 per cent cap on reservations, Gandhi said funds should be allocated for the caste census.
"We want people's census, not bureaucrats' census," he added.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, have been demanding a nationwide caste census, making it a major election issue.
Some states like Bihar, Telangana and Karnataka have conducted such surveys.
Announcing the decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the census comes under the purview of the Centre, but some states have done caste enumeration in the name of surveys "non-transparently" which has created doubts in the society.
