
'If you wanted caste-based census so badly, you should have done earlier': Chirag Paswan slams Congress
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.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
"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.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
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.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Time of India
30 minutes ago
- Time of India
BSP plans to increase its tally to 30, chalks out poll strategy
Nagpur: After BJP and Congress, it is the Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP ) that is a major player in the Nagpur civic body polls, even emerging the third-largest party in the 2017 polls. With 10 seats under its belt, BSP is now gearing up to increase the tally to 30 and has chalked out a strategy for the same. BSP leader Prakash Gajbhiye said, "A huge population resides in slums and lower-income areas within Nagpur city, and those in power have neglected this completely. I can show you so many places in Nagpur where there is no proper sewage system, no proper roads, and the water supply is also not regular. People have realised that BJP or Congress will never solve these problems; hence they will turn to BSP for that." The party has also worked out their targeted seats in the NMC assembly constituencies, highlighting their preparedness. Gajbhiye said, "Our maximum seats will come from North Nagpur, for which our target is 15. The next highest will be from South-West, where we hope to bag around seven seats. Then in the West and South, our target is three each. And for Central, it is two seats. Now, this is the minimum target, but we are confident of getting much more. " He added that BJP's strategy of regularisation of land and building pucca homes, which can help connect with voters, won't work in the polls. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo "This scheme, to provide housing for the poor, was started by Behenji (Mayawati), so BJP is simply doing a copy and paste of that formula," said Gajbhiye. Regarding Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), Gajbhiye said, "People now realise that VBA won't be able to have any impact on their lives. We have been representing Nagpurians' voices in the civic body for a long time, so we have a proven track record." Their ace up the sleeve is party chief Mayawati herself. "We are planning for two major rallies in Maharashtra. One will be in Mumbai and the other in Nagpur. If Behenji holds a rally, then the entire voting dynamic changes at one stroke," said Gajbhiye.


India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Setback for India: Jairam Ramesh after US general praises Pakistan's terror fight
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh questioned the Indian government on Wednesday over recent remarks by a top United States military official praising Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts. Taking to X, Ramesh wrote, 'Recently, the head of the US Central Command called Pakistan a 'great partner in the counter-terrorism campaign'. What will our Prime Minister and his ovation say to this? Is this not a diplomatic setback for India?'advertisementHis statement followed US Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla's testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, where the outgoing commander described Pakistan as a 'phenomenal partner' in counter-terrorism comments came at a time when India had been actively campaigning to expose Pakistan's support for cross-border terrorism, particularly after the deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in April. During the hearing, General Kurilla urged Washington not to adopt a zero-sum approach in South Asia, stating that the US must maintain strategic relations with both India and Pakistan."We need to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India. I do not believe it is a binary switch that we can't have one with Pakistan if we have a relationship with India,' he said. 'We should look at the merits of the relationship for the positives that it has.'advertisementKurilla's remarks came even as India stepped up diplomatic efforts to hold Pakistan accountable for its alleged role in the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 people on April 22. In response, India carried out precision air strikes on terror infrastructure across the border in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May military escalation ended on May 10 after the Directors General of Military Operations from both countries reached an officials, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, had reiterated that India would not accept any equivalence between victims of terrorism and the perpetrators. New Delhi also expressed concern over multiple international responses that appeared to hyphenate India and Pakistan during the brief military Kurilla, who is expected to retire later this summer, also spoke about Pakistan's role in combatting the Islamic State's regional affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan, also known as IS-KP. He acknowledged efforts by the Pakistani military and army chief General Asim Munir in countering the terror Watch


Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Caste survey decision by Cong brass, not Karnataka government, says CM Siddaramaiah
BENGALURU: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah sought to clarify Wednesday that it was the Congress brass's decision and not his govt's to undertake a fresh caste survey, suggesting unease at the prospect of his core vote bank of minorities, backward classes and Dalits not taking kindly to re-enumeration after leaked data from the 2015 exercise showed a massive jump in their numbers. Siddaramaiah, under the pump for the June 4 stampede in Bengaluru in which 11 cricket fans died, told reporters at Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapur district that there were "some complaints" about the Kantharaj Commission's caste survey data. Won't reject 2015 census report: Siddaramaiah There were claims that the data was outdated, so some suggested a fresh enumeration within a relatively shorter timeline. We won't reject the (2015) report. We have already accepted it in principle," Siddaramaiah said. On whether he was disappointed with Congress's decision to go for fresh survey, he said, "We will act per the high command's directive. It's not our decision."Siddaramaiah and his deputy minister D K Shivakumar had been summoned to Delhi Tuesday for a meeting with Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, purportedly to explain state govt's failure to stem the outrage over the stampede sparked by an allegedly mismanaged victory parade for IPL-winning cricket franchise RCB. While Siddaramaiah appeared wary of owning the decision to enumerate caste demography afresh, Shivakumar batted on the front foot. He questioned why BJP was criticising the decision to conduct a new survey after refusing to accept data from previous one. "Why such opposition when we are trying to address concerns? We are not rejecting the Kantharaj Commission's report. We are only trying to correct the shortcomings of the earlier survey," DKS said.