A caste census has been a key demand by the INDIA bloc, led by the Congress party. In the run up to the recent General Election, Narendra Modi and the BJP spoke out against it in different ways. The BJP has been against a caste-based census. In Bihar, a state the BJP has been ruling in coalition with JDU, the caste census was compelled by a court decision and political compulsions.
But a nation-wide caste census was never on Modi’s mind. As per a Times Now report, the Prime Minister is having a change of mind!
The NDA government at the Centre might go for caste census. “Big news doing the rounds: Active discussions on in Union government to take a call on expanding the next Census exercise to include caste enumeration,” wrote Rahul Shivshankar.
Including caste identity in the population census is expected to unleash a new weave of caste-based politics in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and other States.
