Lucknow, Apr 30 (PTI) Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday termed the Centre's decision to conduct a caste-based census as a "100 per cent victory" for the united strength of the PDA (Backwards, Dalits and minorities) and the INDIA bloc.

Reacting to the announcement on social media platform X, the SP chief said, "The decision to conduct a caste census is a 100 per cent victory of the unity of 90 per cent PDA. Due to our collective pressure, the BJP government has been forced to take this decision. This is a crucial step forward in the PDA's fight for social justice."

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"This is a warning to the BJP government – keep its electoral manipulation away from the caste census. Only an honest census can ensure that every caste receives its rightful share based on its population, which has so far been denied by the dominant forces," he said.

Calling the move the beginning of a transformative movement, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister added, "This is the first stage of a positive democratic movement for rights, and the last phase of BJP's negative politics. The end of the BJP's 'prabhutvawadi' (supremacy-driven) thinking is inevitable. The ‘Manvidhan' (running at its own will) cannot stand against the Constitution for long. This is INDIA's victory!"

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The SP has consistently made the caste census a central issue in its election campaigns.

Earlier in the day, the government announced that caste enumeration will be included in the next census exercise in a "transparent" manner and slammed the opposition parties for using caste survey as a "political tool".

The national census, originally scheduled to begin in April 2020, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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