BJP questions transfer by Telangana Govt. to incorporate overseas economist in knowledgeable group to analyse caste survey knowledge

French economist Thomas Piketty, creator of the bestseller Capital within the twenty first Century, throughout a symposium in 2015. File
| Photograph Credit score: AFP

The Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) on Saturday (March 16, 2025) sought a response from the Congress on the target behind the Telangana authorities’s choice to contain a overseas knowledgeable for analysing the “delicate” knowledge of the caste survey within the State, stating that the transfer raised critical doubts concerning the motive.

‘International powers’

“First, you stood with the overseas media, as a substitute of the Indian media; you then have been with the overseas businesses that wished to weaken India’s economic system; after which throughout elections, you seemed to be with the ‘invisible’ and ‘suspicious’ overseas powers making an attempt to intrude…earlier than every parliamentary session, you’ll spotlight the problems raised by one overseas entity or the opposite,” mentioned BJP spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi, asking what the Congress wished to attain by involving a foreigner in a delicate course of.

Mr. Trivedi requested if the Congress didn’t belief the Indian consultants. “Aren’t there financial consultants in Telangana?” he puzzled.

The State authorities has roped in French economist Thomas Piketty as a part of an 11-member committee for analysing the caste survey knowledge. The BJP chief mentioned the mannequin proposed by Mr. Piketty had already attracted heavy criticism overseas and that his tax suggestions may very well be detrimental to the salaried and center class.

A sell-out: BJP

BJP chief G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, in a separate assertion, mentioned: “The Congress celebration has all the time had one elementary perception — India will not be ok. Not ok to control itself, to defend itself, and even to suppose for itself. And in the present day, they show it but once more by outsourcing our delicate caste demographics to a foreigner.”

“What’s going to occur when a foreigner distorts our knowledge to suit a globalist narrative? What narratives will they spin about India’s social material? And who advantages from that? Congress has all the time hated every thing Indian — our establishments, our innovation, our intelligence, and even our identification. They’ve bought India out earlier than, and they’re doing it once more,” he mentioned.