Bhopal, June 7 (IANS) Rajya Sabha MP and national president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) OBC Morcha, K. Laxman, on Friday accused the Congress of failing to conduct a caste census despite being in power for nearly 60 years.

He targeted the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of misleading the people on the caste census issue, and making a false claim that Prime Minister Narendra agreed to conduct the census under pressure.

Laxman, who participated in a workshop of Madhya Pradesh BJP’s OBC Morcha focusing on preparations for the caste census, posed a slew of questions on Congress, especially targeting Rahul Gandhi.

“Congress was in power for nearly 60 years, and three members of the Nehru-Gandhi family became Prime Ministers during that period. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi why the Congress never thought about the caste census,” the BJP leader asked during a press conference at the BJP headquarters in Bhopal.

The BJP leader sought an answer on why the Kaka Kalelkar Commission was opposed by the Congress, and it wasn’t brought into the Parliament for discussion. He also asked why the Congress had opposed the Mandal Commission.

Hitting further at the Opposition, Laxman said that several proposals for reservation for backward class were brought by different committees at different times, but all those proposals were opposed by the then Congress. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the constitutional status to Backward Class Commission. He also made a provision for 11 per cent reservation for OBC children in Kendriya Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools. Besides, he took several other initiatives in the interest of OBC in the past 10 years,” Laxman added.

The meeting organised at BJP headquarters in Bhopal was also attended by Madhya Pradesh BJP leader VD Sharma and several other organisational leaders, especially from the party’s OBC Morcha. This worship was organised two days after the BJP-led Centre announced that the process of the caste census would begin by March 1, 2027. This will be the country’s first digital census, and the first in independent India to include an enumeration of castes as well.

The census will be conducted in two phases from February 28, 2027, and the data will have a reference date of 12 a.m. on March 1, 2027.

–IANS

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