Apna Dal, BJP's ally in UP, demands caste-based census, ministry for OBC welfare

Eyeing the upcoming assembly elections in the state, next year, the ruling BJP's ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) on Sunday pressed their demand for a distinct Union Ministry for the welfare of the OBC along with a caste-based census across the country.

Apna Dal(S), an Uttar Pradesh-based party, is the second ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state after the Janata Dal (United), which, too, has raised the same demand for a caste-based census.

The call marks significance as the community constitutes the single largest mass of voters in the state and it could be a game-changer for the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh.

"Caste-based census is the need of the hour"

Working President of the Apna Dal(S) Ashish Patel said, "A caste-based census is the need of the hour to ascertain the exact population of each segment, especially the other backward class (OBC)."

The working President stated that the population of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes have been calculated in all the censuses post-independence, but a census of the OBC community was never initiated. "As a result, there is no proper estimate of the OBC population. Hence, I request the government that the next census should be caste-based to determine the exact population of each segment, especially the OBCs," Patel said.

Party places demand: "Separate ministry for the community"

The working President also stated that his party demands a separate ministry for the welfare of the OBCs. "On the lines of the Union Ministry for Minority Affairs, there should be a separate and dedicated ministry for the welfare of the OBCs," Patel said.

Apna Dal(S) has been an amalgamate of the National Democratic Alliance since 2014. Anupriya Patel, the daughter of the party's founder late Sonelal Patel, was made a Union Minister in the recent cabinet expansion of the Narendra Modi government. She hails from the Kurmi caste which comes in the OBC community and her party has an influence in around 50 assembly seats, mostly in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Besides several political parties, the National Commission for Backward Classes, too, in April this year, had urged the Centre to collect data on the population of OBCs as part of the Census of India 2021. The Union Home Ministry had in 2018 envisioned collecting data on OBCs for the first time in the 2021 census.

However, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanad Rai, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on March 10 this year, said that after Independence, India decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than that of the SCs and STs in the census. He added that the castes and tribes that are specifically notified as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as per the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, are enumerated. The 2021 census was scheduled to begin from April last year but couldn't take off due to the COVID pandemic.

(With inputs from PTI)