Congress and its allies are promoting their own families, creating division among castes, says BJP

Senior National Spokesperson of the BJP Sudhanshu Trivedi. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday (June 17, 2025) accused the Congress and its allies of promoting their own families and creating divisions between castes in an attempt to generate electoral gains.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Cabinet has approved a nationwide census, which will, for the first time in independent India, include both a socio-economic survey and caste enumeration,” BJP MP and spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said at a press conference.

He said the Modi government’s objective was to ensure recognition, respect, and the upliftment of all castes, especially those at the farthest margins.

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Mr. Trivedi accused the Congress of double standards on the caste census. “The BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government in Bihar set an example by conducting a caste-based survey in 2022. Ironically, it was the Congress that stopped caste-based enumeration in 1951. It also sidelined the Kaka Kalelkar Committee report and failed to implement the Mandal Commission recommendations. Now, the same party raises questions on these issues while ignoring facts clearly stated in official documents,” he said.

The BJP leader alleged that the Congress and its allies “want to dedicate all loyalty only to their own families, and incite conflict among all sections for that purpose”.

“After having been in power for so long, the Congress should at least understand technical matters. The notification for a caste census is issued by the Centre. States cannot conduct a caste census, so which State’s notification are they referring to? States can only conduct surveys. The process of conducting a survey is different and has no statutory procedure,” Mr. Trivedi said.

He said the West Bengal government had included a large number of people from the Muslim community in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, for which the Backward Classes Commission had duly sought an answer from the State government. “Of the total 179 backward class castes included in the State list of West Bengal, 118 castes are Muslim. Before 2011, the total number of backward castes was 108, of which 53 were Muslim. After 2011, 71 backward castes were included, of which 65 are Muslims,” the BJP leader said, alleging that this was due to “vote bank politics”.

Published - June 17, 2025 10:38 pm IST