Congress and Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, allies nationally as well as in Bihar, have claimed credit for the Centre's move to include caste figures in the next Census. With assembly elections approaching in the state -- where the Grand Alliance government was the first to gather caste data -- the Centre's eleventh-hour agreement to caste census was portrayed as a capitulation minutes after Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw made the announcement in Delhi.
"What we socialists think 30 years ago -- like reservation, caste census, equality, fraternity, secularism etc., others follow decades later," RJD patriarch Lalu Yadav said. "On demanding caste census, those who called us 'casteists' got a befitting reply. There is still a lot left. We will keep these Sanghis dancing to our agenda," he added.
Read: Caste Data To Be Part Of Next Population Census: Centre's Big Announcement
"It is a big win for us. Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposed caste census but the Centre is now working on our agenda," said his son and senior party leader Tejashwi Yadav.
The Congress too, claimed credit, saying a caste survey has been a key demand of the party. "We welcome the decision by Central government. It was a long-pending demand of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi our leader had raised voice for the same," said Congress's Vijay Wadettiwar.
Other INDIA allies joined in soon. In a post on social media platform X, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called it a "100 per cent victory" for PDA -- "Pichre" (backward), Dalit and "Alpashankhak" (minority).
"Due to the collective pressure of all of us, BJP government has been forced to take this decision. This is a very important phase of PDA's victory in the fight for social justice," his post read.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Congress took up the caste census demand - spearheaded till then by parties like the RJD and Samajwadi Party. But Congress's senior leader Rahul Gandhi has been vocal about it since, Even in February, Mr Gandhi had promised to conduct a nationwide caste census and increase the cap on reservation if the Congress comes to power.
His platform was a programme in Patna - the capital of Bihar where the caste census demand has been at the forefront of the Opposition campaign. This has sparked BJP claims that the Opposition is using caste as a political tool.
Ashwini Vaishnaw alluded to the matter again while announcing the government move after a cabinet meeting.
"It is well understood that the Congress and its INDI alliance partners have used Caste Census only as a political tool," the minister alleged, citing that the erstwhile UPA government held a caste survey instead of a census despite getting a cabinet clearance in 2010.
In a takedown of the Congress, Mr Vaishnaw said the party had always opposed a caste census, pointing out the category had not even been included in censuses since Independence. "Congress governments have always opposed a caste census. In 2010, the late Dr Manmohan Singh said the matter of caste census should be considered... a group was formed (and) most political parties recommended it. But the Congress decided to conduct a survey..." he said.
