PATNA: The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) appears to have decided to give second thought to conducting of caste enumeration through national census amid mounting pressure from various parties
Bihar BJP senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday made it clear that the BJP is not averse to the caste Census. Sushil Modi's comments come a day before a 11-member all-party delegation from Bihar led by CM Nitish Kumar, is supposed to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 23.
Taking to Twitter, Sushil Kumar Modi said that the BJP has never been against caste census and that is why it was part of the resolution passed in the Legislative assembly and Legislative Council earlier.
Sushil Kumar Modi was the deputy chief minister in the previous NDA government and has been involved in the decision-making exercises of party’s policies with the central leadership of party. He is also one of the most learned and experienced leaders of the party.
“The state BJP is also part of the Bihar delegation scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Be it known that BJP leader Gopinath Munde had presented the party’s side in the Parliament in support of the Caste Census in 2011”, Modi said. He also made it almost clear that the BJP is in support of the caste census in principle.
Modi said, “There are many technical and practical difficulties in conducting caste Census, yet the BJP is in support of it in principle”.
Sharing details on the issue, Modi further said that the last census on caste was conducted in 1931 under the British rule when Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha were not separated.
“The Census of only 22 castes was conducted for a population of about 1 crore of Bihar at that time. Now, much water has flown into the Ganga after 90 years, there has been a difference in the economic, social, geographical and political conditions”, Modi stated through a tweet.
Local political experts opined that the BJP is left with no other option but to take a pro stand over the Caste census in view of the forthcoming assembly elections in UP and other states.