India News | SP Members Walk out of UP Legislative Council over Caste Census

Lucknow, Nov 29 (PTI) Samajwadi Party members walked out of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council on Wednesday while expressing dissatisfaction with the state government's reply on the issue of holding a caste-based census.

The SP members gave a notice on conducting caste-based census in the state through an adjournment notice during the zero hour and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been talking about holding it from time to time but shied away when the regular census was going to be conducted in 2021.

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A caste-based census is the only way to ensure that all classes get rights and respect in proportion to their population, the notice said.

Pressing on the admissibility of the notice, SP MLA Naresh Uttam Patel said even the general census is not being conducted from 2021, "let alone caste-based census".

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Patel alleged that discrimination is taking place in the name of caste.

He referred to the recruitment for the posts of 30 professors and 132 assistant professors at Lucknow's King George Medical University (KGMU).

The SP MLA said despite there being a provision of 50 per cent reservation for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), tribal and backward classes, and 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections, the "reservation was made completely useless there".

Injustice is being done in the state in the name of caste, he added.

SP member Swami Prasad Maurya recalled how senior BJP leaders have also supported a caste-based census.

Replying on behalf of the government, Deputy Chief Minister and Leader of the House Keshav Prasad Maurya alleged that the Samajwadi Party did not care about the backward people and the poor despite having been in power in the state for a long time.

"The SP members have raised the issue of caste-based census. All of them are senior people and know that this will be conducted through the central government and our senior leaders have also said that they are not against a caste-based census," Maurya said.

"The SP talks about conducting caste-based census but it is not in favour of doing so. Hence, the information of the SP members is unacceptable," he added.

As Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council chairman Kunwar Manvendra Singh rejected the adjournment notice and directed for sending it to the government for necessary action, the SP members, including Naresh Uttam Patel, Swami Prasad Maurya and Lal Bihari Yadav, expressed dissatisfaction with the government's reply and sought clarification on the issue of reservation in the KGMU recruitment.

After the chairman raised an objection, all the SP members walked out of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council while raising anti-government slogans.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)