PATNA: LJP (Ram Vilas) chief and Jamui MP Chirag Paswan on Wednesday questioned the authenticity of the caste-based survey report and claimed that members of the Paswan caste were not counted properly.
The caste-based survey report was published on Monday as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had convened an all-party meeting on Tuesday to share details of the data collected during the survey.
Chirag's party is the constituent of NDA and is known for his hard criticism of Nitish.
LJP (Ram Vilas) chief said that people of Paswan caste had not been counted in the caste-based survey properly, alleging that the survey was conducted with a political motive. He claimed that the population of some castes had been shown rising and that of some castes reducing, adding, that members of the Paswan caste were not covered properly in the survey.
The Bihar government has not released the socio-economic data of the survey so far. After the release of the data, the state government will have information about the economic, occupational and educational qualifications of every caste, sub-caste, religion, and community.
The socio-economic data will reveal how much land one has, whether he has a two-wheeler or a four-wheeler, whether he has cultivable land or whether he has a kutcha house for living or a permanent house. Meanwhile, AIMIM MLA Akhtarul Iman claimed that the survey report was incomplete and a lot of effort had to be made to rectify errors.
He claimed that the Muslim population in the Seemanchal region of the state had not been counted properly. He said that the state government should formulate policies for the betterment of economically and socially weaker sections of the society, particularly of the Muslim population. AIMIM had raised the demand for raising reservation quota on the basis of the caste survey report. The CPI-ML, which is also a constituent of the grand alliance, had lent its support to the AIMIM's demand.