At its national council meeting in Patna under new president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Bihar’s ruling party, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), on Sunday passed eight resolutions, including the demand for a caste-based Census and a focus on girl education for population control in the country.
Earlier, Mr. Singh who was nominated as new party president on July 31, had called upon the party office-bearers and functionaries to work together to fulfil Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s dream of making the JD(U) “a national party”.
At the national council meeting, the party ratified Mr. Singh’s nomination as national president and recalled the pioneering works done by former party president and now Union Cabinet Minister, R.C.P. Singh.
Eight resolutions were passed at the meeting held at the party headquarters and attended by all of its top leaders. In one of its resolutions, the JD(U) said it was necessary the Central government conducted a caste-based Census to make public the actual population of all castes so that the fruits of development reach poor and underdeveloped people. “Caste-based Census will be in the interest of both government and society and it will strengthen our Parliamentary democracy,” a JD(U) leader said.
The JD(U) runs the government in Bihar along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and two other alliance parties, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).
The JD(U) also passed a resolution saying “educated girl-happy family” of “Bihar model” should be the criterion for population control in India.
“The JD(U) is not in the favour of any harsh or tough measure for population control, rather it supports awareness campaign and education for girls for this,” party leaders said at the meeting.
The party also demanded the recommendations of Justice Rohini Commission be made public to strengthen efforts for social, educational and economic empowerment of extremely backward people. In another resolution, it welcomed reservations in medical education. “This will encourage efforts of providing equal opportunity in medical services,” party leaders said.
While speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the meeting, party leader K.C. Tyagi said that the JD(U) would welcome the setting up of a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coordination committee to resolve issues between alliance partners. “The NDA coordination committee could be something similar to what existed during former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. We will be happy if a similar coordination committee is formed again at the Central and State levels for smooth functioning of the government and to iron out differences between NDA alliance partners,” Mr. Tyagi said.
