Apna Dal (Sonelal) president and Union Minister Anupriya Patel on Tuesday said that her party had been demanding a caste-based census since its inception and her father and party founder Sonelal Patel was a votary of “the division of resources based on the population". Patel said that “our country is a country of diversity and that there is unity in diversity here. The basis of our social structure is caste. After 1931, a caste-based census had not been done in the country. Today, the need of the hour is a caste census. The authentic number of each caste will be known from the caste census.” The Apna Dal (Sonelal) — a party with a base among Kurmis in eastern UP — is a BJP ally. Patel, however, said only a caste census is not going to work. “On the basis of statistics, we also need information about social and economic backwardness so that the work of providing benefits to the oppressed people can be done properly. Our country is the largest democratic country in the world. A caste census is necessary to strengthen democracy. The caste census is a medium to make democracy more mature and powerful,” said the Mirzapur MP addressing a public rally in Pratapgarh district on the death anniversary of Sonelal Patel — the founder of the Apna Dal. She also said that the income cap for the OBC creamy layer should be increased to Rs 15 lakh per year. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi increased it from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh, but there is a need to increase it further,” she said. Meanwhile, the second faction of the Apna Dal — headed by Sonelal Patel’s wife Krishna Patel — also held a programme to mark the death anniversary of the party founder. Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), which has Anupriya’s sister Pallavi Patel and mother Krishna Patel, held a demonstration in Pratapgarh on Monday, demanding a CBI probe into the death of Sonelal Patel. In 2009, Patel died in a car accident near his residence in Kanpur. Unhappy with the police investigation, the family have demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident. Speaking to mediapersons, Pallavi Patel, an MLA from the Sirathu constituency, said, “Some people have done a deal for his death. They have compromised and are fulfilling their aspirations.” Without naming Anupriya, Pallavi said, “I ask the people of Pratapgarh to ask her tomorrow why the probe into the death of Dr Patel was stopped?”
