Joining the chorus for a caste-based census, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said that for an effective poverty alleviation strategy, it is essential to have statistics that reflect the correct economic situation of all communities.
“There are poor people who haven’t benefitted from government policies in each section, whether Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and even the forward caste groups. We need a comprehensive caste census and we must have a strategy based on the report on how to target these groups in particular,” Mr. Naidu said during a media interaction in Delhi.
The demand for caste-based census is likely to occupy the centre-stage in the Opposition’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This is the only point of convergence between the TDP and the Opposition. The TDP continues to distance itself from its 2019 stance, when Mr. Naidu had tried to bring the Opposition together.
