Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 17 : Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Tuesday welcomed the Centre's decision to conduct the 16th population census and stated that it would "brighten the future of those in darkness."
"I welcome the census and caste census notification issued by the Government of India yesterday...I believe that this will brighten the future of those whose future was in darkness..." Maurya said, speaking to reporters.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Pawan Khera questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on why there was no mention of caste in the survey and further stated that the BJP was always opposed to socio-economic survey of different castes and that the intentions of BJP would always be suspected.
"So, the socio-economic survey is being done on every caste group. This is the real intent, which can be seen through this GO. In the Government of India notification of yesterday, where is the word 'caste'? Where have they written a socio-economic survey of caste groups? They haven't. This also shows that since the BJP has always been opposed to socio-economic surveys of different castes, we suspect their intentions always. These questions will be raised on the BJP because their intentions were always suspect," Khera told ANI.
Mocking BJP over no mentions of the word 'caste' in the Census, Khera said "They don't even dare to mention the word 'caste' in their notification for the Census and they are pointing fingers at a party which has not just done it very successfully in Telangana, which is also following it up and is now ensuring that the Telangana model is followed even in Karnataka," he said.
Applauding the Telangana government's model of Census, Khera stated that the same model was expected to be followed by the Government of India.
"Every single resident of Telangana was involved, and therefore, the report is quite accurate. Based on that report, the Government of Telangana has already taken appropriate steps in the direction of social justice and economic justice. That is a successful model, and we expect the government of India to emulate it," he added.