Prayagraj: Congress Working Committee member and former Madhya Pradesh Minister Kamleshwar Patel said that the Central Government should implement the caste census only after addressing and rectifying the discrepancies in the data.
Addressing a press conference at a hotel here in Civil Lines, Prayagraj, on Sunday, Patel said that the Modi government itself had raised questions over the shortcomings in the 2011 caste census data. He said that people from every section of society particularly Scheduled Castes , Scheduled Tribes , Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, minorities and the General Category must be given due representation from social, economic, educational and administrative perspectives. Only then, social justice and the progress of the country be ensured. Patel recommended that the caste census should be implemented on the lines of the model adopted by the Telangana government.
He alleged that the present government was primarily focused on making money and dividing society. He claimed that in the last 12 years, more than 200 BJP offices had been built and around Rs. 10,000 crore had come into the BJP’s coffers, whereas the offices of the Congress, which remained in power for nearly 70 years, were in poor condition and its party fund stood at only around Rs. 150 crore. Patel further alleged that the government had “hacked the system” and therefore had no genuine concern for the people.
Condemning the demolition of a 120-year-old mosque in Saharanpur early Saturday morning, Patel questioned why such an action was deemed necessary only when the state elections were approaching. He alleged that the government was deliberately raising such issues to create hatred and divide society in an attempt to retain power.
However, Patel asserted that due to the growing anti-government wave, the INDIA Alliance is certain to form the government in Uttar Pradesh in 2027. Patel said that people are troubled by inflation, unemployment, the problems faced by farmers and various anti-people policies of the government. City Congress Committee President Fuzail Hashmi, District Congress Committee President duo Ashok Patel and Ashfaq Ahmed, Kishore Varshney, Harikesh Tripathi and several other party leaders were present at the press conference.
