Mumbai, June 17 (IANS): Amid the ongoing protests over Maratha and OBC quotas in Maharashtra, NCP minister and Samata Parishad Founder, Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday made a strong case for conducting a caste census across India, saying that he will urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the same.

“If this census is done, it will be of great benefit to the OBCs of the country as they will get a huge amount of funds from the Centre,” he told reporters after chairing the Samata Parishad meeting here.

“Narendra Modi has become the Prime Minister of the country for the third time. Now we are going to make an appeal to him to get a caste census done. If it is done, it will shed light on various issues of OBCs. We will not only understand the population but also the situation of OBCs,” said Bhujbal.

He added that the funds would be available to OBCs also which currently are available only to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Bhujbal’s demand for a caste census came days after NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar demanded it last week.

Interestingly, the Congress, NCP and NCP(SP) have strongly demanded a caste census while the BJP has yet to make it stand clear on this issue.