Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, top political leaders to meet PM Narendra Modi over caste census

NEW DELHI: A delegation of leaders from 10 political parties including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Legislative Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand a caste-based census at 11:00 AM on Monday.

"Caste-based Census would be not just for Bihar, people in the whole country will benefit from this," Janata Dal (United) supremo said, who arrived in the national capital on Sunday.

While speaking to reporters at the airport said, "We (a delegation comprising representatives of 10 different parties) will meet PM Narendra Modi at 11 AM tomorrow with our demand for a caste-based census."

Kumar’s JD-U, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar, is in favour of a caste-based census. He has been advocating for a caste-based census in the country and had thus sought an appointment with the Prime Minister. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the demand for a caste-based census.

"The demand of the caste census is not just the demand from Bihar but other states also. The opposition parties in Bihar also wanted to meet the Prime Minister with us. We had written a letter to the Prime Minister regarding this," Bihar Chief Minister had earlier said. 

"We want a caste-based Census and it is our long-standing demand. A caste-based Census will help all castes to get their exact numbers so that policies can be made accordingly. Caste census is in the interest of all. It is for the benefit of the country. It is the job of the central government to take a decision regarding the caste census. It is not a political issue but a social one," Nitish Kumar had said.

Kumar, meanwhile, has stated that if Centre does not agree then "Bihar will proceed to conduct a caste-based census.

"The debate on the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021 during the recently concluded Monsoon Session of the Parliament saw wide participation with many opposition members raising demands for caste-based census and removing the 50 per cent ceiling on the reservation.

The demand for the caste-based census was also made by the Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and several other opposition members. Some BJP allies have also made a similar demand. 

The VP Singh government at the Centre implemented the Mandal Commission recommendation of providing reservation for the OBCs in 1990.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Janata Dal-United`s Rajiv Ranjan Singh `Lalan` have been making consistent demands for caste census so as to bring out the population of different groups.

"If we do not get to know how many of us are there, what is the use (of the census)," he added.

Rajiv Ranjan Singh, whose party JD-U is an ally of BJP in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), also made a strong pitch for the caste census.

He said the government will be able to translate its slogan of `sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishvas` into reality if it knows who is standing in the last queue of development.

He said the population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is marked during the census and schemes for their welfare are made accordingly. The JD-U member said the census also gives a figure of the population in terms of religion but not of castes.

The JD-U leader said that the last caste census was held in 1931 and Mandal Commission also used that data for its recommendations.

With caste-based data, the political parties make their own estimates in states for Lok Sabha and Assembly seats during elections.

However, the Central government has so far refused to accede to the demand. On July 20, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had said, "The Government of India has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise populations other than SCs and STs in the census."

On March 10, 2021, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had clarified on caste-related details received from the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. 

In a reply, the Union Home Ministry said that raw caste data has been provided to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) for the classification and categorization of the data.

"The Office of the Registrar General, India had provided logistics and technical support in conducting the SECC-2011. The raw caste data has been provided to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) for the classification and categorization of the data. As informed by MoSJE, there is no proposal to release the caste data at this stage," the Home Ministry had said.