Hope PM will show courage to speak on caste census during his Bihar visit: Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi [India], March 6 : The Congress on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will visit Bihar on Wednesday to launch several development projects for the state, asking him to speak about the caste-based census in his speech.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh took a dig at the PM, saying that the latter will "undoubtedly spread a barrage of lies and statements".
"He will undoubtedly spread a barrage of lies and statements there too. But we hope that amidst all this, he will also show courage to talk on the important issue of socio-economic that is caste census," he said in a post in Hindi.
He further put forth four questions to the PM and questioned the BJP government asking why it is not conducting the regular census that is done every 10 years.
"Why is the Modi government not conducting the regular census? This was to happen in 2021 itself but has not happened yet. This will provide a complete picture of the population of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and linguistic and religious minorities, apart from other data," he said.
He further asked why the Modi government has not released the caste-related data under the Socio-Economic Caste Census conducted in 2011, which was collected from 25 crore families.
"The INDIA coalition government in Bihar conducted the socio-economic caste census and released its results. What is the vision of the "new" NDA government in Bihar to advance social and economic justice for the disadvantaged communities and families revealed in the census?" he further said.
Jairam Ramesh further reiterated his party's resolve to conduct a caste census in the country if voted to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"The Congress Party is committed to conducting a nationwide comprehensive socio-economic caste census, as part of its participatory justice agenda. Our state governments across the country are taking initiatives for this in their respective states. What is BJP's stand on this issue?" he added.
The Congress has made caste census one of the core themes of the party for the upcoming general elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone, and dedicate and inaugurate various infrastructure-related projects related to rail, road and petroleum and natural gas worth around Rs. 12,800 Crores at Bettiah, West Champaran district in Bihar.
Prime Minister will inaugurate 109 km long Indian Oil's Muzaffarpur - Motihari LPG Pipeline. It will provide access to cleaner cooking fuel in the state of Bihar and neighbouring country Nepal. Prime Minister will dedicate Indian Oil's LPG Bottling Plant & storage terminal at Motihari. The new pipeline Terminal would also act as a strategic supply point for the export of petroleum products to Nepal. It would serve 8 districts of North Bihar i.e. East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Muzaffarpur, Sheohar, Sitamarhi and Madhubani.
The new Bottling Plant at Motihari will also help to make the supply chain smoother in feeding markets attached to the Motihari Plant.