Caste Census: Congress accuses PM Modi of having ‘contempt for poor’

“If the data is there, at some point of time it has to be released. Because when you look at the caste data, it gives you true information on how successful various programmes have been, and who is benefited or not. At some point of time, the data has to be released,” party spokesperson Rajiv Gowda said.

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With the data showing that rural India accounted for 73 per cent households and 74 per cent of these survived on a monthly income of less than Rs 5,000 of its highest earner, the Congress — which has been in power for the last 10 years — went on an offensive against the NDA government. It said the data has revealed that there is tremendous work to be done in rural India and claimed the Congress governments in the past had made huge efforts in transforming rural India such as bringing programmes like green revolution, white revolution and MGNREGA.

“What we saw after NDA came to power was Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the floor of the Lok Sabha mocking the MGNREGA and calling it a monument of UPA and Congress failures. It was contempt with which he had mocked this path-breaking progamme, which ensured a social safety net for the poorest of the poor in rural India. After that, taking a cue from Modi’s contempt for the poor, the NDA government did not release MGNREGA fund, tried to cut down various programmes that will benefit people in rural India. The suit boot sarkar is only focused on the rich and the wealthy, or their corporate cronies and not on the people of India, who desperately need help,” Gowda said.

“We want to ensure that the data is released in a sensitive and careful manner so that there is no adverse reaction and it is seen as a true study into the realities of India,” he added. The caste break-up data would certainly stir up a hornet’s nest and could trigger a debate on reservation and the BJP government appeared to be in no mood to force a debate on caste lines before the Bihar Assembly polls.