BJP questions Piketty’s name in caste survey analysis group
Piketty, a professor at the London School of Economics and the Paris School of Economics, is renowned for his work on income and wealth inequality.
New Delhi The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday raised objections to the Telangana government’s decision to include French economist Thomas Piketty in an 11-member committee formed to analyse data from a recently conducted caste survey.
Voicing concerns about the potential implications of sharing “sensitive data” with a foreign national, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “Piketty’s model for analysing economic inequality has been criticised internationally. There is a possibility that his recommendations could burden the middle class and taxpayers.”
He also accused the Congress of aligning with foreign media and external agencies to undermine India’s economy. “You have sided with international forces to interfere with elections and even before every Parliament session. Now, what do you aim to achieve by sharing India’s sensitive data with a foreigner?” he said.
The Congress-led Telangana government established an expert committee on Wednesday following opposition allegations that certain communities were “undercounted” in the state’s caste survey conducted last year. Alongside Piketty, the panel includes retired Supreme Court judge Sudarshan Reddy, academician Kancha Ilaiah, economist Jean Drèze and former University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Sukhadeo Thorat.
Piketty, a professor at the London School of Economics and the Paris School of Economics, is renowned for his work on income and wealth inequality. His inclusion in the panel has sparked criticism from the BJP, which argues that foreign involvement in analysing India’s caste demographics is unnecessary and potentially problematic.
The caste survey, conducted over 50 days, reported that backward classes (BC), including members of the Muslim community, constitute 56.33% of Telangana’s population. Scheduled castes (SC) account for 17.43%, scheduled tribes (ST) make up 10.45%, and “other castes” comprise 15.79% of the population.
The BJP has taken particular issue with the inclusion of Muslims in the BC category, claiming it undermines the interests of backward-class communities. The party maintains that the Telangana government’s approach to caste classification and its choice of panel members warrant further scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtriya Samithi (BRS) working president K T Rama Rao said, “The Congress has undercounted the backward classes as it does not want to give benefits to this group.”
