The Congress on Tuesday attacked the government over the demand for a caste census and asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "running away" from the issue.
In a post in Hindi on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed "direct questions" to the prime minister over the issue of caste census.
He asked why is the prime minister running away from a caste census and so confused on this issue.
"Sometimes he says that there is no caste in India. He says that he knows only two castes, the rich and the poor. Sometimes he starts calling himself the biggest OBC?" Ramesh said.
Is it not true that in the year 2011, the UPA government had conducted the socio-economic and caste census of 25 crore families of the country, but the Modi government has not yet published the data, he asked.
"Is it not true that despite repeated demands by people from different regions, the Modi government is not publishing the caste census data? Is it not true that the Modi government has kept pending the census of the entire population of the country including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities from the year 2021?" Ramesh said.
"Modi ji, why are you afraid to tell the country's truth? Daro mat (Do not fear)," he said.
With the Congress and other parties raising the OBC pitch, Modi said they question about the number of backward officials in different posts but cannot see the biggest OBC, referring to himself.
