BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national OBC Morcha president K. Laxman, currently campaigning in Karnataka, says that the clamour for a fresh survey to enumerate the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) cannot be used as a political football during elections. Vehemently denying that the party is against the survey as is being demanded by Congress party and other Opposition parties. “It is a much more serious issue and there is no consensus within the Congress itself,” he charges in this exclusive interview.
Q: The demand for a countrywide OBC census seems to be rising with most parties demanding it to be taken up, what is your party’s stand now?
A: We are not against it at all. The Modi Government has given full power to the respective States to have their own census to include or exclude any castes from the OBCs list considering the complex caste arithmetic across the country. To do it in a nationwide scale, it will take time as it needs a scientific, comprehensive and exhaustive study along with consensus by all the stakeholders concerned
