Nitish-led Bihar team to press PM for caste-based census
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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will lead a delegation of all-party leaders from the State to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 23 to press for caste-based census in the country. The BJP government has so far remained non committal on the issue.
“We got information yesterday evening to meet the Prime Minister at 11 a.m. on August 23 on the issue of our demand for caste-based census. An all-party delegation will meet him and the final list of leaders will be sent to his office,” Mr. Kumar told reporters in Patna on Thursday.
BJP’s fear
With Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections just a few months away, the BJP has maintained an uneasy silence on the issue. It fears that a caste census could disrupt the carefully crafted non-Yadav OBC bloc that it has nurtured. Already, the BJP government in U.P. has been sitting for the last three-years on a report recommending subcategorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota that would limit the quota for the dominant castes, including Yadav, Jat and the BJP’s key votebank of Kurmis.
When asked if the State BJP leaders too would be in the delegation, Mr. Kumar said, “yes, they too will be part of the delegation and their party will finalise the list of leaders”.
But the BJP’s discomfort is clearly visible. Recently, its leader and Deputy Chief Minister Renu Devi, tried to lodge the ball back in the Chief Minister’s court saying, “The Bihar government, like Karnataka, is free to hold caste-based census, but the Central government will not accept any proposal for this, as its policy decision is not to conduct caste-based census”.
JD(U)’s advice to BJP
The JD(U) though has a word of advice for the BJP. “This is just a friendly advice to a friendly party that if caste census is delayed any longer, even the non-Yadav OBCs will get alienated,” party’s Secretary General K.C. Tyagi said.
He denied the fact that “caste census” could create a chasm between the two allies. “Every party has certain core commitments and social justice is ours. This is not the first time we are raising it. Mr. Kumar has been advocating it since 1990,” he stated. If the 35 per cent of Ministers in Mr. Modi’s Cabinet could be from the OBC community, then what could be the problem in holding a caste census, he asked. “This is a demand that can no longer be ignored, almost every other party in the country is asking for it,” he added.
The JD(U) Parliamentary Party had sought an appointment to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister, but were told to meet Home Minister Amit Shah instead. Mr. Kumar stepped in to ensure that the issue is raised with Mr. Modi. The JD(U) though claims that Mr. Kumar is leading the delegation on a request of all Opposition leaders who met him earlier.
House resolutions
The Bihar legislature had unanimously passed resolutions twice for caste-based census in the country.
The last such census was conducted in 1931.
“With caste-based census, we can know the exact proportion of population of each and every community so that the fruits of development would reach them in proper way”, said a JD (U) leader.
PTI adds:
“Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of opposition in the state assembly, will be part of the delegation,” Mr. Kumar said.
Leaders of the five-party opposition Grand Alliance, led by Mr. Yadav, had met the CM over the issue recently.
Mr. Kumar had allayed fears that a census of all castes could lead to social tensions.
“When the legislature unanimously passed resolutions in support of a caste-based census on two occasions, members of all parties and from all castes and religions supported it. There should be no misgivings,” he had said.
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