MADURAI: Criticising the BJP-led Union government’s recent announcement to conduct caste census, VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan on Thursday said it was an eyewash and was done with political motives.

The caste census should have been taken in 2021, but due to COVID lockdown it could not be done, he said. Talking to reporters at the airport in Madurai, the VCK chief said after years of delay, the BJP government has come out with its intension to conduct the caste census before Bihar elections.

Now, the caste census becomes the talk of the subject in the Bihar election campaign, the VCK chief said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other leaders of the INDIA bloc had long been insisting on the need for a caste census. Though it’s seen as a political motive by the BJP-led government, which once objected to conducting it, the decision is a welcome move, finally, Thiruma said. Some state parties in Tamil Nadu wanted only the State government to conduct such a census, but according to the Constitution, the union government is empowered to conduct a caste census, he added.

Commenting on the Pahalgam terror attack, he said it was shocking that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone to Bihar campaigning instead of visiting Pahalgam. No war should be entered into even lightly between India and Pakistan, he said.