'If you wanted caste-based census so badly, you should have done earlier': Chirag Paswan slams Congress

Time of India

01-05-2025

NEW DELHI: Union minister
Chirag Paswan
on Thursday directed his attack on the
, accusing it of using the caste census as a 'political weapon to incite people's sentiments.' He questioned the party's intent, saying that if Congress was genuinely committed to a
caste-based census
, it should have implemented it during its long tenure in power.
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"Today,
wants to take credit for this, saying that this happened under my pressure. Your party's government remained in the centre for a long time. Leave the party aside, there have been three Prime Ministers from your family. If you wanted a caste-based census in the country so badly, then you should have got it done earlier. But you used it as a
political weapon
and only worked to incite people's sentiments," Paswan told reporters.
He praised Prime Minister
for taking decisive action, saying, "Today, our government has fulfilled this demand. My Prime Minister is known for taking the right decisions at the right time. The opposition is saying that we have taken this decision in view of the Bihar elections, but if this decision had to be taken from the point of view of elections, then we would have taken this decision before the Lok Sabha elections..
."
Paswan further highlighted ongoing national priorities, assuring that the government remains focused on critical issues, including
national security
concerns, which is at the centre of discussion after terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam.
"We have taken this decision, and there is still more work to be done. There are many important issues related to national security on which we have to work...my Prime Minister will definitely take every decision which is related to the sentiments of the country," he said.
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The Cabinet Committee on political affairs, headed by PM Modi, recently approved a caste census to be conducted alongside the national census. However, no official date for the exercise has been announced yet.
This announcement comes just months before the upcoming
. Bihar, notably, was the first state to initiate and conduct a caste-based survey in 2022.
According to Article 246 of the Constitution, the census is a Union subject and is listed at number 69 in the Union List under the Seventh Schedule.