‘Criticising BJP on caste census when Congress, DMK have not conducted it amounts to intellectual dishonesty’

Criticising Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M.K. Stalin and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for using the issue of the caste census as a political tool, BJP State general secretary Raama Sreenivasan asked why the Congress did not conduct it when it was in power at the Centre.

Criticising Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M.K. Stalin and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for using the issue of caste census as a political tool, BJP State general secretary Raama Sreenivasan asked why the Congress did not conduct it when it was in power at the Centre.

In a press meet held in Madurai on Saturday, Mr. Sreenivasan said the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs had decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming general census. The Congress and the DMK had been using caste census as a political tool.

The Congress had ruled at the Centre for many years and the DMK had been a part of the alliance, but they did not conduct caste census. Merely criticising the BJP which had taken the steps towards conducting it amounted to intellectual dishonesty, he said.

The census was a Union subject. It should have been conducted in 2021. However, due COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, it was not conducted. It would give clarity and scientific data, he said.

Two methods were adopted in conducting the census: one was survey method and the other enumeration method. Enumeration method was foolproof as data would be collected from each household. The Congress had followed the survey method in Telangana and Karnataka. However, there were errors, he said, adding that even in Bihar this method had failed.

The BJP-led Central government would follow the enumeration method as it was foolproof, and would be combined with the general census, he said.

To a query on whether the TVK and the NTK would also be a part of the AIADMK-BJP alliance, Mr. Sreenivasan said so far there was no such move. Alliance was not an ideological marriage, but an arithmetical convenience. It was the BJP’s approach that every single vote against the DMK should not be diverted. Anyone against the DMK was welcome, he said.