"When the government can count the number of trees and nullahs in survey, what is the problem in adding a column to include castes in the ongoing exercise," SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said
Samajwadi Party and JD(U) today batted for a caste-based census and warned the government of a "volcano" ready to erupt if demands of the backwards were ignored for long.
"When the government can count the number of trees and nullahs in survey, what is the problem in adding a column to include castes in the ongoing exercise," SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said participating in the debate on Census 2011 in the Lok Sabha.
Yadav said he was happy that the issue of inclusion of castes in the census exercise was discussed by the Union cabinet recently.
"While some supported the idea, there were some who opposed it. It is the result of our mentality (that the idea was opposed)," Yadav said.
In a veiled attack on those who reportedly opposed the move in the Cabinet meeting, he said, "One day people will come to know who supported and who opposed the move."
Yadav warned that those who "clash" with the majority will get into "trouble".
Likening caste to "garbage", he said in a bid to cleanse it, the makers of the Constitution have made provisions to provide special opportunities for the deprived.
He said inclusion of castes in census will help identify castes which have so far not been identified. "When in government (in UP), we had identified several castes...17 in number...to provide them representation in various fields, but with the change of government (when BSP came to power), provisions were removed," he said.
Yadav claimed even the Supreme Court had supported the
idea of including castes in census as without a proper data,
it was difficult to ascertain the exact number of OBCs.
JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav said, "Be it good or bad, caste system in India is a reality where injustice is meted out to the downtrodden at every step."
"The system of caste in India is worse than apartheid where the distinction was merely on the colour of the skin. Here, the discrimination leads to exploitation at every stage," he said.
He said even political parties distribute tickets based on castes. "It is unfair that you still do not want castes to be included in census," he argued.
Yadav said caste system is like a "volcano ready to erupt if Government fails to take steps to uplift the downtrodden."
Citing an official survey, he said people belonging to OBC. OBC had little representation in government jobs. He lauded Law Minister M Veerappa Moily's letter to the prime minister requesting inclusion of castes in the survey.
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