The demand for caste census is to help the backward and poor people, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday in poll-bound Chhattisgarh while announcing that the party-ruled Karnataka too would release the data of a caste survey on the lines of Bihar.
Mr. Kharge’s comment, made at “Bharose Ka Sammelan” in Kondatarai village of Raigarh district, is a counter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had accused the Congress of trying to “divide the society” on caste lines and asserting that the poor formed the biggest chunk of the population.
“We want a census of backward classes as it will reveal information on how many of them are very backward, how many of them are literate, who are economically backward, among others,” Mr. Kharge said, adding that such details would allow the government to formulate more effective policies.
