State leaders laud Bihar move but have no plans to meet PM

Ranchi: The ruling Mahagathbandhan parties in the state on Monday appreciated the efforts of the all-party delegation of Bihar led by its chief minister Nitish Kumar to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press for a caste-based census but remained indecisive on making a similar move with the Centre.
In Jharkhand, the ruling parties comprising JMM, Congress and RJD along with NDA’s ally, Ajsu-P have demanded a caste-based census but they still could not come on one platform to take up the issue with the Union government.
Reacting to the developments, JMM central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharjee said, “It’s good that a delegation from Bihar met the PM over the caste-based census. We, too, have been asking for it and have already made our stand clear. The Centre must respect the growing sentiments now.”
Asked if JMM, which is the lead partner in the alliance government, would consider making a similar move as done by the ruling JD(U) in Bihar in the coming days or bring any bill in favour of the caste-based census in the monsoon session of the assembly, Bhattacharjee did not reply in the affirmative.
He, however, said, “Let’s see what churns out in the monsoon session scheduled from next month after which we will take a call on how to pursue the matter. But our government has already passed a resolution for the Sarna code in assembly last year as per our promise during the polls and sent it to the Centre for approval. The Union government must also include a separate column for the Sarna religion in the upcoming census,” Bhattacharjee said.
Congress’s leader of the legislative party and state parliamentary affairs minister, Alamgir Alam, said they are yet to get any clear cut roadmap from the party’s high command on ways to pursue the demand for a caste-based census.
He said, “As of now, I am not aware of any proposal to debate on the caste-based census in the assembly. It can only be done after a consultation with party leadership and the alliance partners. But my personal view is that a caste-based census, especially a headcount of OBCs, must be done as a similar exercise for SC/STs and religions are conducted. Why such discrimination?”
Meanwhile, NDA ally, Ajsu-P said it has already written to the prime minister seeking a caste-based census. A party leader said, “Our party president Sudesh Mahto wrote a letter to PM in this regard a few weeks back and also welcomed Centre’s move to provide reservation for OBCs in dental and medical courses. After the passage of the OBC Bill in Parliament, which empowers states to fix reservation limit, it is even more important to have a caste-based census.”
Even as the political parties could not come to a single platform on the issue, Jharkhand OBC Arakshan Manch is continuing with its outreach programme to seek a hike in the reservation for jobs and educational courses for OBCs to 27% from the existing 14% in the state.
On Monday, the outfit’s president Kailash Yadav submitted a memorandum to Jharkhand Congress affairs in-charge RPN Singh in Delhi in this regard.