Caste census will benefit NDA, delimitation is a Constitutional right: Kushwaha
The National Democratic Alliance will benefit from the Union government's decision to enumerate caste as part of the decadal Census exercise, said NDA ally and Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha on Tuesday (June 10, 2025), adding that delimitation was a constitutional right.
Mr. Kushwaha, a Rajya Sabha MP, said this while addressing a press conference after members of the All India Kalwar Kalal Kalar Association joined the RLM.
Also read | What is the significance of the Census? | Explained
'The Union government has already announced the caste census, the Centre will get the credit. Congress was in power for a long time. Why did they not conduct a caste census? [Rashtriya Janata Dal chief] Lalu Yadav was a powerful minister at the Centre, he could have pressured the government to undertake it,' he said.
Population and delimitation
He also reiterated his demand for delimitation, arguing that opposing it was equivalent to opposing the Constitution. Without naming anyone, he noted that some Chief Ministers from southern States are asking people to increase population, which is against the national policy.
'I saw that a southern Chief Minister has urged people to increase their population... The government of India wants to control the population, this is against the declared policy of the country,' he said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu are among those who have spoken about the disadvantage that southern States face because they followed family planning policies urged by the government over the years. They fear that Lok Sabha seats accruing to southern States will decrease if the delimitation exercise continues to use population as its major criteria.
'Delimitation is a right provided by the Constitution. The preamble says, 'We, the people of India', not 'We, the States of India',' Mr. Kushwaha said.
NDA vote consolidation
He reiterated that his loss in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Karakat was because NDA votes had not been consolidated.
'If Upendra Kushwaha lost, NDA also lost. The area of Shahabad and Magadh, the results in Lok Sabha elections were not as per expectations for the NDA. The same situation was there in the 2020 Bihar assembly polls. The only reason is that the NDA vote in the region is not consolidated. When the votes get divided, the Mahagatbandhan (Bihar's Opposition alliance) benefits,' he said.
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