Hubballi, May 2 (Reporter) Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Congress party over its demand for a caste-based census, accusing it of hypocrisy and inaction despite being in power for six decades. "Congress ruled the country for 60 years but never conducted a proper caste census or released the caste data from the 2011 survey," Joshi told reporters here, referring to the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) conducted under the UPA government. "Even after coming to power in 2004, they had seven years till 2011. Why didn’t their prime minister or their 'super Prime Minister, referring to Sonia Gandhi, act on it? Were they not mature or intelligent enough?" The minister said Congress leaders must introspect before raising demands they failed to fulfil themselves. He questioned why the caste component of 2011 census was not made public, despite the party having every opportunity to do so. Citing historical opposition to caste-based reservations, Joshi recalled that former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi had both opposed such measures. "Rajiv Gandhi’s longest speech in Parliament was against reservations for SCs and OBCs. He even opposed the existing reservations at that time," he said. Joshi also pointed out that Dr BR Ambedkar had resigned from Nehru’s cabinet after his committee’s recommendations on social justice were ignored. "The report was not even opened by the Congress leadership. They actively opposed it," he said. He further accused the Congress of opposing the Mandal Commission recommendations when they were first proposed. "They talk about surveys and social justice today, but when the Mandal Commission came out, they stood against it," Joshi added. "Before making noises and politicising this issue, Congress should look at its own record. It is they who failed to act when they had the power and the mandate," he said...////...