Samajwadi Party president and leader of the opposition, Akhilesh Yadav, on Monday, raised the demand for caste-based census, in the UP assembly.

He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was only interested in the votes of the Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes and not their actual welfare.

The BJP, however, countered the issue raised by the SP saying, “Akhilesh Yadav did nothing when he was the chief minister for five years till 2017 and never demanded caste-based census from the United Progressive Alliance government in Delhi headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Raising the issue during the general debate on the 2022-23 budget, Akhilesh Yadav said, “The government has data about everything but we do not have the same about our own people. Let there be a caste-based census and give every caste its due share in the power structure as per their share in population and end this dispute forever.”

“Why is the BJP against compilation of caste-based data of the UP’s population? The BJP creates discord among various sections of the OBCs and spreads hatred in society but is not interested in caste-based census even when there is no dearth of data centres in UP,” the SP chief said.

Moreover, he said, the government had the data of about 2.47 crore farmers who were beneficiaries of the PM Kisan Samman Yojana and data of almost the entire population who were beneficiaries of different government schemes.

Recalling the slogan for the OBCs given by veteran socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia which called for 60 per cent reservation for the OBCs in government jobs and other sectors, Akhilesh Yadav asked, “How many OBCs MLAs can raise this slogan?”

Moreover, Akhilesh Yadav asked how many BJP MLAs could dare to raise the popular slogan ‘Jiski jitni sankhya bhari, uski utni bhagadari’. He said his battle for caste-based census would continue.

Meanwhile, Labour and Employment Minister Anil Rajbhar, countering the demand of the Samajwadi Party chief, said, “He (Akhilesh) is raising this issue only to mislead the House and the people of the state as he did nothing as chief minister for caste-based census.”

“Samajwadi Party leaders are hypocrites. They are self-appointed messiahs of social change and socialists. They claim to be socialist but they work only for one caste and one family. A large share, as much as over 60 per cent, benefits of OBC reservations were cornered by the Yadavs alone and most backward communities like Rajbhar, Bind Nishad and other social groups among the OBCs got nothing’,” the minister said, adding that the Samajwadi Party had only cheated the Most Backwards Classes in the cover of social change and social justice.