BJP questions move by Telangana Govt. to include foreign economist in expert group to analyse caste survey data

French economist Thomas Piketty, author of the bestseller Capital in the 21st Century, during a symposium in 2015. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (March 16, 2025) sought a response from the Congress on the objective behind the Telangana government’s decision to involve a foreign expert for analysing the “sensitive” data of the caste survey in the State, stating that the move raised serious doubts about the motive.

‘Foreign powers’

“First, you stood with the foreign media, instead of the Indian media; then you were with the foreign agencies that wanted to weaken India’s economy; and then during elections, you appeared to be with the ‘invisible’ and ‘suspicious’ foreign powers trying to interfere…before each parliamentary session, you would highlight the issues raised by one foreign entity or the other,” said BJP spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi, asking what the Congress wanted to achieve by involving a foreigner in a sensitive process.

Mr. Trivedi asked if the Congress did not trust the Indian experts. “Aren’t there economic experts in Telangana?” he wondered.

The State government has roped in French economist Thomas Piketty as part of an 11-member committee for analysing the caste survey data. The BJP leader said the model proposed by Mr. Piketty had already attracted heavy criticism abroad and that his tax recommendations could be detrimental to the salaried and middle class.

A sell-out: BJP

BJP leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, in a separate statement, said: “The Congress party has always had one fundamental belief — India is not good enough. Not good enough to govern itself, to defend itself, or even to think for itself. And today, they prove it yet again by outsourcing our sensitive caste demographics to a foreigner.”

“What will happen when a foreigner distorts our data to fit a globalist narrative? What narratives will they spin about India’s social fabric? And who benefits from that? Congress has always hated everything Indian — our institutions, our innovation, our intelligence, and even our identity. They have sold India out before, and they are doing it again,” he said.