Caste-based census can alone ensure development of every section, says Akhilesh

Caste-based census can alone ensure development of every section, says Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on April 30 said a caste-based census alone can ensure the development of every section of society, while alleging that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had insulted the backward classes, Dalits, Scheduled Tribes (ST) and minorities.

“We Samajwadis (socialists) demanded a caste census, so that everyone gets rights and respect in proportion to their population, but when it comes to caste census, the saffron party goes completely freezes,” Mr. Yadav said at a public meeting in Gorakhpur, the home turf of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Mr. Yadav was campaigning in support of the SP’s mayoral candidate Kajal Nishad.

Describing Mr. Adityanath as a weak Chief Minister, Mr. Yadav said said no one could be a weaker CM than the one who could not appoint a Director-General of Police (DGP) in the State. The State has not had a full-time DGP for nearly a year now.

“The BJP creates a divide between Hindus and Muslims. If the Chief Minister had not withdrawn cases lodged against him, then it would have been known how long the list of cases against him is,” he added.

Mr. Yadav also focused on reaching out to the numerically significant Nishad community, saying that it was the SP that first sent a member from the community to the Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur in the 2018 bypolls. “Samajwadis (Socialists) sent a member from Nishad community to Parliament from Gorakhpur,” he said, asking voters to support Kajal Nishad in the mayoral elections.