HC stay on caste survey in Bihar: BJP seeks Nitish’s resignation

BJP’s state unit president Samrat Choudhary was quick to put the blame the HC stay on the Nitish Kumar government, saying the chief minister never wanted it to happen and “enacted a drama for public consumption at the cost of public money”.

A war of words broke out between the ruling alliance in Bihar and the Opposition BJP as soon as the Patna High Court decision staying the ongoing caste survey with immediate effect became public on Thursday, with BJP even seeking the resignation of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Bihar BJP president Samrat Chaudhary during a dharna in Sasaram on Wednesday. (ANI)

While RJD leader and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav reiterated the commitment of the Grand Alliance (GA) government to ensure caste survey today or tomorrow, BJP’s state unit president Samrat Choudhary was quick to put the blame the HC stay on the Nitish Kumar government, saying the chief minister never wanted it to happen and “enacted a drama for public consumption at the cost of public money”.

“Nitish Kumar does not want caste survey in Bihar. His government did not present its side properly before the court, which led to the stay. It is entirely his fault. He is known for U-turns. If his government cannot defend its own decisions in the court, it means it is a failure and such a government must resign,” said Choudhary.

On JD-U’s allegations that BJP had got cases filed for the stay on survey, Choudhary shot back: “Did they know beforehand that the caste survey would be stayed? If so, it is a matter of contempt. Who has said it? It means the government deliberately got it stayed through weak arguments. Only Nitish Kumar is to blame, none else. He forgets half the things. We had 16 ministers in the cabinet against JD-U’s 12 and we had supported caste survey. Now he says he did everything,” he said.

BJP leader Ajay Alok, who was earlier with the JD-U, said the government had cheated all the parties as well as the Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly). “The consensus was on survey, and it started doing a virtual census, which is the Centre’s domain,” he said.

On his part, Nitish Kumar reiterated on Thursday, hours before the HC order came, that the caste survey was a unanimous decision of all parties in the assembly. “What people now say, I have nothing to comment,” he said.

CM Kumar has often expressed surprise over the way the ongoing caste survey in the state was being challenged in the courts. “It is not a caste census. That is Centre’s domain. It is altogether a different matter that for the first time the Census, which happens every 10 years, is not happening and the best part is nobody is even talking about it. What we are doing is caste survey. We wanted it to be part of the national census and an all-party delegation also met the Prime Minister with a request. But the Centre did not accept it and said the states could do survey if they wanted. We are doing it,” he said.

Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said the caste survey would certainly happen. “We are committed to it. It is in the interest of the Bihar people, not for any particular caste. We will continue to fight for it. Both Nitish Kumar and RJD chief are in its favour. BJP is happy with the stay order, but we are not. No BJP-ruled state has gone for it, but we will make it happen,” he said.

JD-U spokesman Neeraj Kumar said that the HC order was an interim one and those trying to derive political meaning out of it were oblivious of the all-party resolution in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

The CPI-ML, which supports the Grand Alliance government from outside, termed the HC order unfortunate, as it was being done to make reservation logical. “We hope the state government will present its case strongly and remove all the anomalies next time,” said its state secretary Kunal.

Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD) chief Upendra Kushwaha also termed the court order a result of “Nitish Kumar’s callousness, as the state government did not prepare well for it, as it often happens”.

“Due to state government’s indifferent approach, the massacre accused have also got released from the court. But this will keep happening as Nitish Kumar is more interested in moving across the country,” said Kushwaha, who quit JD-U early this year.