Grand Alliance lashes out at BJP over Centre’s opposition to Bihar caste census

The ruling Grand Alliance in Bihar said that the central government’s opposition to the state government’s caste survey has exposed the double-standard of the Bharatiya Janata Party

The ruling Grand Alliance (GA) in Bihar, comprising the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Congress, lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday saying that the central government’s opposition to the state government’s caste survey has exposed the double-standard of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The Union government opposed in the Supreme Court the Nitish Kumar government’s caste survey, asserting that only the Centre is empowered under the Constitution to carry out a census or any action akin to census. (PTI File Photo)

Earlier in the day, the Union government had opposed in the Supreme Court the Bihar government’s caste survey, asserting that only the Centre is empowered under the Constitution to carry out a census or “any action akin to census”.

“There is glaring dichotomy in the words and deeds of the BJP on the issue. The BJP is opposing the caste-based enumeration exercise in an apparent bid to deprive the down-trodden and deprived sections of the society from the benefits of the government’s policies,” claimed Congress legislature party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan.

JD(U) chief spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar said, “The Prime Minister had said that the state government might carry it out on its own. But the way the central government is opposing the caste census clearly demonstrates the BJP’s desperation to keep the actual status of the scheduled castes, backward classes and other deprived sections under wraps.”

RJD chief spokesman Shakti Singh Yadav alleged that the BJP has been against the caste-based enumeration since the beginning, as outcome of the survey would expose the Centre’s lop-sided development policy. “Socially and economically backward sections in society have been completely marginalised in the government scheme of things and only the industrialists and rich people are making the most of the government policies,” claimed Yadav.

Meanwhile, BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Modi claimed that the Centre, by filing the affidavit in the Supreme Court, had categorically stated that it was not against the caste-based census. “In the affidavit, the Centre clarified that there was no confrontation between the Centre and the state government on the constitutional point of view. Stating the constitutional position in the apex court, the Centre clarified that the state was free to conduct the social and economic census,” added Modi

In a short affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Monday through the ministry of home affairs, the Centre maintained that census is enumerated as a subject under Entry 69 in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

Disposing a bunch of petitions, the Patna high court had early this month allowed the Bihar government to carry out the exercise, which chief minister Nitish Kumar pitched as essential and imperative to further the cause of social justice.

The Centre’s opposition to the Nitish Kumar-government’s ambitious exercise has come a week after solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court that the state’s survey has some “ramifications” that necessitated an intervention by the Union government in the matter.

Speaking to the media on August 25, the Bihar CM said that the caste-based survey in the state has been completed and the government would soon make the data public. He added that the survey would be beneficial for all sections of society.

Political analyst and former head of economics department, Patna University, Nawal Kishore Chaudhary said that the BJP dispensation seems to have been caught in a catch-22 situation over the caste-based census. “By opposing the caste-census, the BJP-led government has complicated the problem for itself. The move might antagonise the backward classes and other deprived sections, which have the potential to trigger Phase-2 of the Mandal Commission movement,” said Chaudhary.

Chaudhary further said that the INDIA parties must be deliberating on strategy to use the caste-based census issue against the BJP-led coalition in the upcoming Lok Sabha by projecting it as against the majority. “If nurtured well, it could turn out to be a Bramhashtra for the INDIA to oust the BJP from the power,” he said.