Agartala, May 02, 2025: Tripura Pradesh BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Rajib Bhattacharjee on Friday claimed that the Modi government’s decision to include caste-based data in the national census would benefit even the most marginalized sections of society, distancing the move from previous “politically motivated” attempts by the Congress and its allies.

Speaking to media personnel at Pradesh BJP Headquarters here in Agartala city, Bhattacharjee accused the Congress and the Indi Alliance of using caste-based census initiatives in the past as “a political tool” rather than a sincere effort toward social equity. He said, “The Modi government has taken this decision keeping in mind the backward people of the society. Because, the country will develop only if the backward people develop.”

He explained that since independence, caste-related data had never been part of the regular census. While in 2010, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised to explore the inclusion of caste in the census, the Congress-led UPA government only carried out a separate Socio-Economic and Caste-Based Survey. “Many political parties had supported the caste count then, but it was never integrated into the national census,” he noted.

Bhattacharjee also pointed out that some states had conducted their own caste-based surveys, but these often lacked transparency and were guided by political motives, leading to societal confusion. “The Centre’s move will ensure accurate and nationwide data that truly reflects the status of backward communities,” he said, thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the “historic decision.”

Responding to a question on the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Bhattacharjee assured that the central government was taking the incident seriously. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condemned the attack in the strongest terms, and I assure you that retaliatory action will be taken,” he affirmed.