BJP, Congress spar over caste census ahead of Madhya Pradesh elections

Bhopal: The BJP and the Congress in Madhya Pradesh traded barbs on Wednesday after the governing party said that its rival was responsible for India’s partition and it was now trying to create a divide among Hindus by raising the issue of caste survey.

In its counter, the Congress sought to know if the BJP considers OBCs (Other Backward Classes) as Hindus. The Congress has welcomed the Bihar government’s exercise to collect data on castes in the state and urged the Centre to carry out a similar exercise at the national level.

Addressing a rally at Beohari in MP on Tuesday, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced that his party would go for a caste survey if voted to power in MP. He termed it an “X-ray” of the country that will throw light on the condition of OBCs, Dalits and tribals who are “injured”.

Polling for all 230 seats in the state will be held in a single phase on November 17.

State home minister Narottam Mishra sought to know why the Congress is talking about “caste census among Hindus and not about others”.

“First, the Congress divided the country through partition. Those who did this were his (Rahul Gandhi’s) ancestors. Then, the same was done in Kashmir and an attempt was made in Punjab. Now they are trying to divide Hindus into castes. Why is there a talk of such division only among Hindus? Do it in other places (religions) also,” Mishra told reporters at the state BJP media centre here.

“Why does the Congress only raise questions over Ram Mandir and Mahakaleshwar,” he asked.

Asked about the BJP leader’s allegations, MP Congress media department’s spokesman KK Mishra said the ruling party should first clarify if it considers OBCs as Hindus or not.

The MP home minister should also clarify if he considers that OBCs should get rights according to their population, he said.

The Congress leader said that minister Mishra has no right to ask such a question as his own party got the power in Madhya Pradesh through “divide and rule”.

In the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress won 114 seats and formed a government under Kamal Nath with the support of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and independent MLAs. However, it collapsed after 15 months when a section of Congress legislators, most of them loyal to Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, quit the party and joined the BJP.

The saffron party returned to power in March 2020 with Shivraj Singh Chouhan taking over as the chief minister for a record fourth term.