BSP will support Centre if it takes concrete steps for holding OBC census: Mayawati

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday said that her party will support the central government in Parliament and outside if it takes constructive steps for conducting a census of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

The BSP supremo’s remarks came hours after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the tricky issue of caste-based census which the Centre has proposed to hold only for SCs and STs.

“BSP has been demanding census of OBCs in the country. If the central government takes any positive step in this direction, BSP will definitely support it both inside and outside the Parliament,” Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi.

Nitish Kumar had on Thursday said that he wanted to discuss with the PM the tricky issue of caste-based census which the Centre has proposed to hold only for SCs and STs, triggering protests in the state.

The Union government had informed the Parliament last month that a headcount of only the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was proposed. This has led to renewed demands that the population of all castes be ascertained afresh in course of the census.

"My letter to the PM has been dispatched. Once he gives an appointment we will take the matter forward", the Bihar Chief Minister told reporters here. Notably, the state legislature has on two occasions passed unanimous resolutions favouring a caste-based census. 

Moreover, Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav had met the chief minister last week with the suggestion that since unanimity prevailed among all political parties in Bihar over the issue of the caste-based census, Kumar should meet the PM heading an all-party delegation.

The Chief Minister has also said that in the event of the Centre not agreeing to the request for covering all castes in the census, his government will "keep the option open" of conducting a state-specific exercise.

Kumar is the de facto leader of the JD(U), which has been an alliance partner of the BJP for close to three decades. He holds the view that a caste-based census will help better formulation and implementation of schemes aimed at targeted welfare of different social groups.

The last time a caste-based headcount was taken up in the country was in 1931. The Bihar CM, who had recently caused a flutter by advocating an investigation into the Pegasus controversy, expressed satisfaction over the fact that the Supreme Court was seized of the matter and making needful intervention.