Cong: Delay in holding census as govt wants to scrap SC/ST quota

NEW DELHI: Expressing alarm at a three-year delay in conducting the 2021 decadal census, Congress on Thursday alleged Modi govt of wanting to scrap SC/ST reservations and said that is the intent behind the unprecedented postponement in holding the national headcount.
Congress also accused PM Modi of lying, saying 'inheritance tax' is not on the party agenda and it was Rajiv Gandhi who ended the said tax in 1985, while BJP netas, led by Arun Jaitley and Jayant Sinha, had advocated it in Modi govt.

Speaking to reporters, AICC spokesman Jairam Ramesh said PM Modi's policy is "asatyamev jayate", which is making him speak lies about Congress in his election speeches.
Ramesh said besides key data about the population, the decennial census also collects SC/ST numbers. "The population figures of SC/ST are important because our

reservation policy

is based on population. Why a three-year delay? Because BJP wants to end reservation and does not want to collect SC/ST data," he argued.
The Congress spokesman said there is no excuse for a three-year delay in the census as many countries conducted their census even during Covid, adding that preparation for 2021 census would have started in 2020.

At the same time, he said BJP has neither published the caste data collected under Socio-Economic Caste Census conducted by UPA govt, nor has it ordered a fresh SECC which should be done every ten years.
On Modi's "lies about wealth redistribution" and "inheritance tax" and his "communal" tone, Ramesh said the PM wants to "drag Congress to the pitch prepared by Jay Shah and others", but Congress will stick to its positive agenda of jobs, economy, prices, saving Constitution and democracy, and social welfare.

On PM Modi's allegation of Congress eyeing gold and "mangalsutras" of women, Ramesh said a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report says that in past ten years, 1.5 crore families have pledged gold to take loans from banks, and if unorganised sector money lending is included, one out of four families have mortgaged gold for loans.
"And this PM talks about mangalsutras and gold. A person who did not respect mangalsutra in his life is now expressing concern about mangalsutra," he said.