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!”

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

Earlier in the day, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the government had decided to include caste-based data in the upcoming national census in a “transparent manner.”

He stated that while the census is a central subject, some states had attempted caste surveys under different names.

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