“Were there no qualified Indian experts”: BJP questions Telangana govt including French economist for caste survey

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Malviya on Sunday attacked the Telangana government for reportedly including French economist Thomas Piketty in an expert group to analyse the state’s caste survey and asked if there were no qualified Indian experts capable of handling the task.

Malviya further accused Congress of threatening India’s social harmony while being “under the shadow of George Soros”.

“The Congress-led Telangana government has enlisted French economist Thomas Piketty to analyze and interpret data from the recent caste survey in the state. Is it wise to entrust sensitive demographic data to a foreigner? Were there no qualified Indian experts capable of handling this task? What explains this eagerness to expose our social fabric to external influences, allowing outsiders to dissect our divisions and potentially fuel discord with their subjective interpretations?” Malviya asked Congress.

“It seems the Congress is still under the shadow of George Soros, blindly following a path that threatens India’s social harmony,” he added in a post on X.

Telangana government recently formed a 11-member committee to analyse the findings of a ‘caste survey’.

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi also asked the Congress party to explain its decision to involve a foreigner in analysing “sensitive caste data.”

“Why does the state’s Congress government of Telangana need a foreign expert, was there any dearth of capable people in India? Many Indians are occupying important positions globally, then why is the state government including a foreigner in India’s sensitive social system?” Trivedi asked the Congress in a video on X on Saturday.

The BJP leader further asked is there some deep mystery behind this or is it a new dimension of the Congress Party’s foreign influence and relations which is giving formal government recognition to foreign interference in India’s sensitive social system.

“The model proposed by Piketty, who has extensively studied wealth inequality, had drawn heavy criticism abroad and noted that his tax recommendations could inflict a lot of harm on the salaried and middle class,” he added.

In December last year, in the winter session of Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party raised concerns alleging that the ties between George Soros and the Nehru-Gandhi family extend beyond Sonia Gandhi’s role as co-president of the Forum of Democratic Leaders – Asia Pacific (FDL-AP).