Digvijay Singh assured the caste census after winning the Madhya Pradesh election

(Madhya Pradesh Election) Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh said on Monday that a caste-based census would be done if Congress came into governance after winning the Madhya Pradesh election in 2023. Commenting on the latest caste-based census report by the Bihar state government, Digvijay told ANI,

“I always supported this. If we come back to power, we will also get a caste-based census done in Madhya Pradesh”. Speaking about Sanatan, he said, “We follow Sanatan Dharma; there is no hatred in Sanatan Dharma that they spread.”

2011 census data of Madhya Pradesh

As per the 2011 census, the population of SC (scheduled castes) in Madhya Pradesh was 1.13 crore and that of ST (scheduled tribes) was 1.53 crore. Earlier, while speaking at a rally in Sagar district, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also mentioned the caste census in Madhya Pradesh for better planning of backward castes. He said, “Only the caste census can disclose which community is poor, backward, landless, and uneducated.

Meaning and Significance of caste census

The demand for a caste-based census of India's population in the upcoming exercise is known as the caste census. The caste census benefits policymaking along with reservation issues. A caste census brings up the issues that any democratic country needs to address, particularly the number of people who are at the margins, deprived, kind of their occupation, etc., which leads to better policies, the implementation of strategies, and a more rational debate on sensitive topics.

Recently, the Bihar government released caste-based survey data on Monday, with figures that may impact Lok Sabha elections in 2024, showing that the OBC (other backward caste) and the EBC (extremely backward class) together share 63% of the state’s population. Now, the Jharkhand government shows interest in caste census in their state. Congress MLA Pradeep Yadav stated in the Assembly that the government will send a proposal to the Centre, and if it does not agree, the state may conduct a caste census.

Madhya Pradesh is going to have elections with Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in the upcoming months of 2023. Throughout the polls, the state will elect 230 MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) from constituencies. The Congress party won the last Madhya Pradesh election polls in 2018, with the leader Kamal Nath taking oath as a Chief Minister of the Madhya Pradesh state assembly.

However, in March 2020, political instability racked the state when the Congress leader, Gwalior based Jyotiraditya Scindia, switched over to the BJP along with his 22 loyal MLAs, resulting in the Congress government falling, the BJP forming the government, and Shivraj Singh Chauhan returning as chief minister.

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