Bihar govt free to hold caste census: Deputy CM Renu Devi

PATNA: Deputy CM and senior BJP leader Renu Devi on Saturday said the Bihar government, like Karnataka, was free to conduct caste-based census in the state. The Karnataka government had conducted 'socio-economic and education survey’, which mentioned about the population percentage of different castes in that state, in 2015.
Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of ‘Sahyog’ programme held at the state BJP office here, the deputy CM, however, made it clear that the Centre wouldn’t accept any proposal for caste-based census in the country. “It’s a policy decision of the Centre to not conduct caste census,” she said.
Renu’s statement came barely hours after the chief minister’s office received an acknowledgement from the PMO on CM Nitish Kumar’s letter written on August 4 seeking PM Narendra Modi’s appointment to discuss caste census issue. On Friday, leader of opposition in state assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had accused the PM of ignoring Nitish by not replying to his letter.
Nitish had assured the leaders of the state, including Tejashwi, of meeting the PM to discuss the contentious issue when they had met him in his office on the premises of the state assembly during monsoon session of the assembly in July.
On Friday, Tejashwi had also written to PM, demanding a caste-based census in 2021 for “equitable distribution of reservation and other benefits to the OBC category”.
Meanwhile, former CM and HAM (S) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi has urged the Bihar government to conduct a caste-based census in the state on its own. Earlier, the Maharashtra government had made a similar demand, sources in the BJP said.