New Delhi, June 17 (IANS) Amid sharp criticism by the Congress over the Centre’s recent gazette notification on the 16th national census, which makes no mention of caste enumeration, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hit back, accusing the grand old party of “rebranding expired products” and misleading the public.

Responding to Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, who called the notification a “damp squib” and said it merely repeated what had already been announced on April 30, Naqvi launched a scathing counter-attack.

“The Congress factory keeps putting new labels on expired products and trying to market them, but these efforts have repeatedly failed and been defeated,” Naqvi said.

“How long will the Congress keep telling the country that this port was inaugurated by late PM Nehru, this railway was flagged off by Pandit Nehru, or that this road had a signboard installed by him? For how long will you keep showing the country these outdated papers and pretending they are still relevant?” he added.

Naqvi accused the Congress of being stuck in the past and unable to accept the transformation India has undergone in recent years.

“Today’s India is not Congress-dependent. It is ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, a self-reliant India. There’s a new atmosphere of development and trust in the country. But the Congress is unwilling to accept this change,” he said.

He continued, “You are still showing off the expired products of the Congress factory, trying to convince the world that everything happening in India today is because of late PMs Nehru or Indira Gandhi. Those products have expired, they have no value inside or outside anymore.”

The Centre issued a notification for conducting India’s 16th Census in 2027, as many as 16 years after the last such exercise in 2011.

It would be carried out with a reference date of October 1, 2026 in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country.

Earlier on Monday, Jairam Ramesh said, “It is quite a damp squib and merely repeats what had already been announced on April 30, 2025.”

He stated that it was only due to the “persistence and insistence” of the Congress that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was forced to agree to a caste census, but added that the latest notification was silent on the issue.

–IANS

rs/rad