MUMBAI: After the Bihar Government released the caste census, the BJP-led government in Maharashtra also hinted at a similar caste-based survey exercise in the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that they will check the data of the Bihar government’s caste census and its authenticity and his government is positive to carry out similar exercises in Maharashtra as well.
He said the Bihar government has yet to release all caste-based census data. “We will check Bihar government data and study it as well. We will verify the authenticity and its implications as well. We are very much positive for a caste-based census. Bihar is the only state that has carried out caste-based surveys and released its data as well. So, we will check out which method has to be followed, whether the Bihar government's or some other. Chief minister Eknath Shinde will take the final decision over it,” Fadnavis added.
Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule earlier on Monday said that he would write to Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and request him to carry out the caste-based survey in the state.
Leader of Oppositions and Maharashtra Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar also demanded the same. He said the Maharashtra government should carry out the caste-based survey in the state on the line of Bihar.
He said that caste-based surveys will provide authenticated data and that will help to carry out the welfare and development program on the basis of it.
MLC Kapil Patil, general secretary of JD (U) wrote to CM Ekanth Shinde and DCMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar to follow the Bihar government model to carry out the caste-based survey. He said once this survey is done that will resolve the reservation demands of several castes like Maratha in Maharashtra.
He said Bihar government data clarifies many things as the survey reveals that OBCs are 62 per cent in state, but the central government has given them only 27 % reservations while the upper caste is 15%, but they are enjoying 10 % reservations under the EWS quota.
“The caste-based data will help to repair the damage to various marginalized and deprived castes in India,” Patil added.