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Jharkhand CM seeks to meet Modi to discuss caste census
Speaking in the legislative assembly on the issue raised by ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislator Sudivya Kumar, chief minister Hemant Soren also invited the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to join the delegation
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday said he has sought appointment from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet with an all-party delegation from the state to discuss the issue of caste-based census.
Speaking in the legislative assembly on the issue raised by ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislator Sudivya Kumar, Soren also invited the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to join the delegation.
“I have written to the Prime Minister seeking his time. I want to lead a delegation of all parties to present our views on caste census. I want members from both treasury and opposition benches to join us,” said Soren.
Reacting to the CM’s statement, senior BJP legislator and former minister Neelkanth Singh Munda said while his party was ready to cooperate on caste census, the CM should also take up the issue of “dwindling population of tribals in the state”.
Sudesh Mahto, former deputy CM and president of AJSU Party, an ally of the BJP, asked Soren to also inform the House about his electoral promise of expanding other backward classes (OBC) reservation in the state to 27% (from existing 14%). AJSU Party too has taken a clear stand in favour of caste census.
“It’s is good that you have sought time on caste census, let us know what happened to the 27% OBC reservation. That should not be an issue now as the Centre has already delegated the power of deciding on list of OBCs to the states,” Mahto said.
To this, the CM said the state government was working on it and he was in favour that a unanimous resolution on OBC reservation should also go to the Centre from the state assembly.
The development comes weeks after an all-party delegation from neighbouring Bihar, led by chief minister Nitish Kumar, met PM Modi on August 23 to demand a caste census in the country. While speaking to the press after the meeting, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, leader of opposition in the Bihar assembly, suggested the caste census could be a part of the normal decadal census, which anyway counts religious groups and Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) separately.
The last caste-based census was conducted and released in 1931, while in 1941, the data was collected but not made public. In 2011, a socio-economic caste census was carried out but the data was again not made public on grounds of “discrepancies”.
Holding a caste-based census is a sensitive issue for the government in view of the assembly elections due in seven states next year. Many political parties have come together demanding a caste-based census.
BJP allies such as the JD(U), Apna Dal and Republican Party of India-Athawale have raised the demand for holding a caste-based census. Many opposition parties such as the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party are also demanding that the exercise should be held.
