After SC upholds EWS quota, Nitish seeks removal of 50% cap on reservations, reiterates call for pan-India caste census

A day after the Supreme Court upheld the Centre’s 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in jobs and education, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday called sought the removal of 50 per cent cap on reservations and made a fresh pitch for a country-wide caste census.

"What the Supreme Court ruled was fair enough. We were always in support of the quota. But it is high time that the limit of 50 per cent be raised. The cap is depriving OBCs and EBCs of opportunities in proportion to their population," said Kumar, an OBC leader himself who owes his rise in politics to the churning brought about by Mandal Commission.

He also reiterated the need for a fresh estimate of the respective population of various social groups and recalled having taken it up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.

"We were told that states could hold such headcounts. We have undertaken that exercise. But this needs to be done on the national level as well. There must be a rethink on the issue of caste census," said Kumar.

The BJP, a former ally of the JD(U), lashed out at the chief minister. "The honorable chief minister is obviously unhappy over poor upper castes getting their due. He is speaking the language of its current ally RJD," alleged BJP spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh.

"If you want the 50 per cent cap to be raised, do the needful in Bihar as per constitutional norms. We will welcome it," he said.

The Supreme Court in its landmark majority verdict on Monday said that the EWS quota is not discriminatory and does not alter the basic structure of the Constitution. The verdict came as a shot in the arm for the BJP-led central government, which introduced the reservation ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. 

Kumar's Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin saisd it will challenge the verdict and file a review petition before the Supreme Court. "The verdict hits at the heart of equality enshrined in the constitution," said the party, stating that the quota is "against social justice and equality" and a setback for the century-old struggle for social justice.