Congress urges Centre to include BC/OBC caste census in 2027, BJP stages walk out | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: A heated exchange took place between Congress and BJP members in the assembly over the Census and BC welfare promises on Friday.BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar initiated a discussion on the need to scientifically enumerate the BC/OBC population as part of the 2027 Census through a drop-down menu system, similar to the Telangana survey, instead of an open-entry format. The BJP members staged a walk out from the house claiming the govt failed to implement in the Congress BC Declaration promises.A debate took place between BJP member Payal Shankar and ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, Vakiti Srihari, D Sridhar Babu and deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka. Ponnam proposed a resolution to urge the central govt to include BC and OBC caste survey in the second phase of general Census questionnaire.While the ministers insisted that Shankar make the saffron party’s stand clear on its support to proposed resolution, the BJP member kept talking about the promises and their implementation as part of Congress’ Kamareddy BC Declaration.Ponnam said the Telangana caste survey had emerged as a model for the country and provided authentic data on the BC population. The minister said the draft questionnaires for the Census did not clearly provide for enumeration of the BC/OBC population. He pointed out that while information on SCs and STs was sought, similar details regarding BCs/OBCs were absent.Prabhakar questioned how effective welfare, development, educational, employment and political representation policies could be formulated without reliable data on the BC population. He said an open-entry system could lead to discrepancies due to spelling variations, differences in caste nomenclature and sub-caste complexities.He noted that Leader of Opposision in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking clarity on BC/OBC enumeration.Deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka said a caste census must be mandatorily included in the national Census if social inequalities in the country are to be eliminated. Bhatti recalled that the Centre had earlier stated that a caste census would be included while conducting the national Census. “BJP members should clearly state whether they want a caste census or not,” Bhatti said.However, BJP member Payal Shankar demanded that the govt make clear when it will release Rs 20,000 crore per annum towards BC sub plan as promised, following which the BJP members staged a walk out.