Hyderabad, February 4: BJP MLA Payal Shankar strongly criticized the Telangana caste census report, accusing the Congress government of deliberately reducing BC population figures.
Speaking in the Assembly, he alleged that the census had been manipulated to downplay BC representation in government policies and reservations.
Shankar initially welcomed the caste census, believing that it would benefit BCs based on the Congress party’s pre-election promises. However, he now felt that the data had been distorted to the disadvantage of BC communities.
He pointed out significant inconsistencies in official records. According to government data, Telangana has 3.32 crore registered voters, while 62.32 lakh students are enrolled in schools from Class 1 to Intermediate, and 38.99 lakh children are under the age of five. Based on these numbers, the total population should be around 4.33 crore. However, the caste census report states Telangana’s population as only 3.34 crore, creating a discrepancy of nearly 90 lakh people.
Shankar questioned how the BC population could have declined over the past 14 years, calling the numbers “highly questionable.” He accused the government of rushing the process to manipulate the data before elections. He also demanded that Panchayat elections be postponed for six months if necessary to ensure accurate caste census data.
He further alleged that the Congress government was using Supreme Court rulings and parliamentary laws as an excuse to avoid addressing the real concerns of BCs. “The government must clarify these discrepancies and ensure that BC representation is not compromised,” he insisted.
