Lucknow: The UP Congress’s OBC unit on Monday took out a march towards Raj Bhavan, demanding an OBC column in the 2027 census, a drop-down list of castes for enumerators and an OBC atrocities prevention act on the lines of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Yadav said the Congress had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a caste census but alleged that govt had not given a positive response. Congress leaders said the protest was part of a wider campaign for an OBC-specific law to address atrocities against members of backward communities. Yadav said the party would intensify the campaign through statewide protests and awareness programmes. Congress leader Hira Thakur said an OBC column in the census was necessary to determine the community’s share, while OBC unit general secretary Jitendra Patel demanded representation in proportion to the population in reservations, jobs and access to resources.
The protesters were stopped near the Congress headquarters, with the party claiming that thousands of workers were detained. The protesters, led by UP OBC Congress president Manoj Yadav , were seeking caste enumeration based on the models followed in Bihar and Telangana.