Credit war on between JD(U), RJD over caste survey in Bihar
PATNA: In a bid to project themselves as the ‘‘real champion’ of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), JD (U) and its new political rival, RJD on Wednesday sought to take full credit for the caste survey in Bihar as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar claimed that the caste count was conducted due to his initiatives only.
Taking a jibe at former Congress president Rahul Gandhi a day after he claimed that Nitish conducted a caste survey in the state under his pressure, the JD(U) president said, “It is completely a rubbish claim to take credit for the caste survey as everyone knows I had taken all initiatives for it,” he remarked.
Nitish said that a unanimous resolution was passed in the assembly in 2020, seeking that the 2021 census should be based on caste as he also led a 10-member all party-delegation in 2021 and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in support of the caste-based census. He said that RJD and Congress were in opposition when he took all these initiatives.
The survey revealed that OBCs and EBCs together constituted nearly 63.13 % of the state's total population.
Nitish also attacked the former deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, accusing him of unnecessarily taking credit for giving jobs to youths as jobs were being provided under his 'Seven Resolves-Part-2'. He also called Tejashwi a ‘bachcha’ (child), unaware of how bad was the situation in the state when RJD was in power before 2005.
Meanwhile, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha told media persons in Patna that the enumeration was conducted due to the resolve taken by RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav in this regard. He said that the caste-based survey report provided the caste data and the reservation quotas for various castes were increased to 75 % subsequently.
RJD leader said that the state government subsequently requested the Centre to incorporate the hiked reservation for deprived castes from 50 to 65 % in state government jobs and educational institutions in the 9th schedule of the Constitution, so that it is guaranteed immunity from legal scrutiny, but Narendra Modi government was not accepting the request due to its ‘narrow mindedness’.
Jha said that what initiatives RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi took for the caste survey in the state, Congress and DMK took it forward. Now it is being discussed at the national level, he pointed out.
“Everybody knows how BJP tried to put stumbling blocks in conducting the caste census in the state,” he added.
Reacting to claims by RJD-Congress, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, “They are trying to take fake credit for the caste survey in the state.”