Nitish Kumar leads all-party team to PM to push for caste census

DELHI/PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday tossed the issue of caste-based census in the Centre’s court, saying it was for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a call on estimating the respective strength of castes.
After meeting PM with a 10-party delegation to demand caste-wise headcount which was discontinued in 1931, Nitish told reporters, “The Prime Minister listened to all members of the delegation on caste census. We urged the PM to take an appropriate decision on it. We briefed him about how resolutions have been passed in the state assembly twice on caste census.”
The interaction with reporters was marked by the rare sight of the Bihar CM praising his opponent, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, for mooting the idea of taking an all-party delegation to the PM. Yadav, on his part, thanked Nitish for heeding the suggestion.
Nitish said the PM gave all of them a patient hearing and “did not deny what we said (need for caste census)”.
“People of Bihar and the entire country are of the same opinion on this issue. We are grateful to the PM for listening to us. Now, he has to take a decision on this,” Nitish said, his remarks implying that the political onus of satisfying the clamour among the numerically preponderant intermediate castes for officially estimating their respective numbers rested with Modi.
Although BJP leaders have not been averse to caste-wise count, the party is wary of making a specific commitment to hold one because of the logistical nightmare it is set to present in view of the gigantic nature of the task and its complexities. Sources say it will certainly not be easy to club it with the forthcoming decennial census for which all the preparations have already been made. The exercise has already been delayed because of Covid restrictions.
A section in the party also seems to be concerned about the possibility of such an exercise putting a spade in the project to knit a “Hindutva” constituency cutting across castes.
“A message is being spread in Bihar that BJP is against caste-based census, which is wrong. We have never been against it. However, clubbing caste headcount with general census might not be possible,” a senior functionary said and added that the government may initiate the process at a later stage.
Nitish said it was a central minister’s statement discounting the possibility of conducting a caste-based enumeration of population which served as the trigger for the move to organise the all-party delegation. “It made us anxious as there is unrest among the people. Following the statement, all parties including the opposition took the initiative to meet the Prime Minister,” he said.
Nitish was referring to a statement of junior home minister Nityanand Rai’s written reply in the Rajya Sabha in July this year that there was no proposal for releasing caste-based population data. He said all parties from Bihar spoke in one voice on the need for a caste-based census and asserted that statistics about different castes will help in formulating development schemes effectively as many of them have not benefited so far in line with their actual population.
Tejashwi said, “Our delegation called on the PM not only for a caste-based census in Bihar but in the entire country. We are awaiting a decision on this now.”
BJP's Janak Ram, who was part of the delegation, said the PM heard out everyone’s view like the “guardian of a family”. “Everyone was satisfied and the Prime Minister’s decision will be acceptable to all,” he added.
State’s parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary made a very strong and convincing argument explaining why caste census was necessary for the country, one of the delegation members told TOI over phone.
Choudhary told the PM that the caste data was necessary also for the proposed sub-categorization of the OBCs, as recommended by the Justice Rohini Commission. “If there is no caste-wise break-up, how can the Centre categorize different castes under the OBCs,” he said, adding, “The caste-wise data will also be required for regular review of the status of different castes by the National Commission for Backward Classes.”
Choudhary told TOI over phone: “We hope the unity shown by all political parties in Bihar under the leadership of Nitish Kumar on the demand of caste-wise census will motivate the political leaders of other states and they, too, will join the campaign in the country.” He said Bihar has taken a lead on the issue because of Nitish, who has consistently been championing the cause of OBCs, EBCs and other underprivileged people.
Ajeet Sharma (Congress), Mehboob Alam (CPI-ML), Akhtarul Iman (AIMIM), former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM-S), Mukesh Sahani (VIP), Suryakant Paswan (CPI) and Ajay Kumar (CPM) were part of the 11-member delegation.