Union Minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
BJP on Thursday (May 1, 2025) said that the announcement of caste enumeration along with the decadal census exercise by the Union government was perceived as a difference between “empty slogans and true intentions” after the Congress claimed that it was pressure from the Opposition that led to the move.
Addressing a press conference a day after the announcement, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the Congress had never undertaken a caste census because historically they had been opposed to it.
“When this decision was taken yesterday, some people were visibly agitated. They were saying ‘the government is theirs, but the system is ours.’ Now that the issue is finally being addressed, there should be an open discussion. The country deserves to know the truth. Who was in power in 1951? Who controlled the system then?” Mr Pradhan said.
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He added that reservations existed today because of leaders like Constitution framer B R Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, claiming late Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru was strongly opposed to caste-based quotas.
“Jawaharlal Nehru’s thinking was well known. Had it not been for Babasaheb (BR Ambedkar) and Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi), had there been no concern for social sensitivity, had the Constituent Assembly not been consulted, there would be no reservations in the country today, because Nehru was staunchly opposed to caste-based reservation,” he said.
Mr Pradhan said that the erstwhile Janata government had established the Mandal Commission in 1977 to promote social justice, adding, at that time, Jana Sangh, the BJP’s predecessor, was a part of the Janata Party, and prominent leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were part of that government.
He questioned who was responsible for keeping the Mandal Commission report locked away for 10 years.
“In the government led by VP Singh, the Mandal Commission report was implemented on our (BJP) suggestion… Rajiv Gandhi has also given long speeches against OBC reservation… What can we expect from those whose social justice is limited to justice for their families? The Congress Party has always been against the deprived, tribal, Dalit, and backwards classes of the country. That is why their hypocrisy is visible today,” he said.
Published – May 01, 2025 02:35 pm IST
