RAIPUR/ NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday nuanced his party’s position on caste census, saying the BJP is not opposed to it but any decision would be taken after due deliberation and wide consultation.
“We are a national political party and don’t go by vote bank politics. Only after extensive consultations with all on the issue, we will take an appropriate decision. Merely using it (caste census) to win the polls in not right,” Shah said in response to a media question here while releasing the BJP’s manifesto, called ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ (Modi’s guarantee).
A recent meeting of the party’s central leadership in Delhi, which discussed its OBC outreach ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections, reportedly also dwelt on addressing the caste census issue to counter the Congress, which had made it a poll plank saying the saffron party is opposed to a national caste head count.
National general secretary of the BJP’s OBC Morcha, Dr Nikhil Anand, reiterated that the BJP was never opposed to caste census in principle. “The caste census process in Bihar was a unanimous and collective decision of the NDA government. It’s a different matter that the exercise happened when the BJP was out of power as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did a U-turn,” he said.
The party’s manifesto in Chhattisgarh promised Rs 12,000 annual support to married women, subsidised cooking gas at Rs 500 a refill, a monthly travel allowance to students, Ayodhya visit and other welfare schemes. It also promised to launch a Krishi Unnati Scheme that will offer a minimum support price of Rs 3,100 per quintal for paddy with the procurement limit fixed at 21 quintal per acre.
Wooing OBCs in Chhattisgarh The support of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) is crucial for the BJP in Chhattisgarh as they constitute around 50% of the state’s population
Promise of one lakh govt jobs The BJP promised to fill one lakh vacant government posts within two years after coming to power and provide landless agricultural labourers Rs 10,000 every year under the Deendayal Krishi Majdoor Yojana
