Nitish, Tejashwi meet PM to push for caste-based census

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday led an all-party delegation from the state to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demand a caste-based census.

Data will aid policy drafting

The data will aid effective drafting of policies considering many sections of OBCs have not received benefits in proportion to their population. — Nitish Kumar, Bihar CM

Will help most deprived

Caste census will be in national interest and will turn out to be a historic pro-poor measure. It will help the most deprived. If animals and trees can be counted, why not people? — Tejashwi Yadav, RJD Leader

After the meeting, which featured 10 parties, including the RJD and BJP, the CM said the PM gave everyone a patient hearing and “did not deny what the delegation said”.

“All parties spoke in unison about the need for caste-based census and said data will aid effective drafting of policies considering many sections of OBCs have not received benefits in proportion to their population. The PM heard us patiently and did not deny what we said,” the CM said.

RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, countering the argument that caste census could foment divisions, said counting on the basis of religion was already being done. “Caste census will be in national interest and will turn out to be a historic pro-poor measure. It will help the most deprived. If animals and trees can be counted, why not people?” he asked.

Yadav also said caste census would not entail extra cost as SCs and STs were already been covered. “All you need is one more column,” Tejashwi Yadav noted.

The JDU, BJP, RJD, Congress, HAM, CPI, CPIML and LJP were among parties represented at the PM’s meeting today. About the new-found bonhomie with RJD, Nitish said the opposition had always backed Bihar government’s “pro-people moves”.

The meeting with the PM came days after the government said in Parliament that there was no proposal for a caste-based census in the pending Census 2021 exercise, triggering apprehensions among Bihar parties.

The demand for caste census gained ground with the passage of the Constitution (127th) Amendment Bill, 2021, which enables states to enlist OBCs.

Critics of caste census say the makers of the Constitution had dropped the idea for a reason. The last caste census happened in 1931. Politically, commissioning a caste-based census could alter the political landscape for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due in 2022 and upper castes are a major factor.