New Delhi, Oct 2: Welcoming the release of the caste survey by the Bihar government, I.N.D.I.A bloc parties on Monday accused the ruling BJP of running away from such an exercise, with the Congress pushing its slogan 'jitna abaadi, utna haq' (representation according to population).
Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi cited Bihar's demographics to argue for proportional representation.
He said that the caste census of the Bihar government shows the importance of knowing the caste statistics of the country.
"The caste census of Bihar has revealed that OBC + SC + ST are 84 per cent in the state. Out of 90 secretaries of the Central Government, only 3 are OBC, who handle only 5% of India's budget! Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India. The greater the population, the greater the rights – this is our pledge," Gandhi posted on 'X' (formerly known as Twitter).
According to the data released by the Bihar government, Other Backward Caste (OBC) and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) together account for 63 per cent of the state’s population.
Nitish Kumar's reaction
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar congratulated the entire team engaged in the work of caste-based survey stating that it will not only reveal castes but also give information about the economic condition of everyone. "Today, on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the data of the caste-based census conducted in Bihar has been published. Many congratulations to the entire team engaged in the work of caste-based enumeration!" Bihar CM posted on 'X'.
BJP opposes caste survey
Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP in Bihar has voiced dissatisfaction with the caste survey conducted by the Nitish Kumar government, stressing that it did not give an idea of the "changed social and economic realities" over the years.
State BJP president Samrat Choudhary emphasised that his party had "given its consent" for the exercise and would make an assessment of the findings which have now been made public. "The BJP will give a statement on the findings after studying the same. However, we wish the survey had studied the social and economic conditions of different castes and placed these on record. We need to take into account the changed social and economic realities," Chaudhary told reporters in Patna.
It should be mentioned here that the findings are likely to favour the ruling 'Mahagathbandhan' which claims to represent the interests of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs). The BJP, which has been generally seen as being pro-upper caste, has begun warming up to the changed political landscape, as evident from the rise of OBC leaders like Choudhary and Union minister Nityanand Rai who headed the party's state unit earlier.
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