A day after the Patna High Court issued a stay order on the State’s planned caste-based census, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad on Friday (May 5) backed the exercise, claiming that most people want the survey to be conducted. He also asked why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in the Opposition in the State, was “afraid” of the census exercise.
Following the stay order, BJP leaders had attacked the Bihar government, claiming that the State government could not convince the court due to its lacklustre and “non-serious” attitude.
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‘Majority demand’
Slamming the BJP’s leaders, the RJD supremo posted a tweet in Hindi on his official Twitter handle and said, “Caste-based survey is the demand of the majority of the people and it will continue to happen. Why is the BJP afraid of counting the majority of backward castes? The one who is against caste enumeration is against equality, humanity, and is a supporter of poverty, unemployment, backwardness, social and economic discrimination.”
BJP State president Samrat Choudhary had even demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and held him responsible for the court’s decision. Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD) national president Upendra Kushwaha had termed the order unfortunate, and said that the State government was not serious about the caste-based survey.
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The Patna High Court on Thursday directed the Bihar government to immediately stop the survey and ensure that the data already collected was preserved and secured. The court said that prima facie, the State had no power to carry out a caste-based survey in the manner in which it was now fashioned, as that would amount to a census, impinging upon the legislative power of the union Parliament.
‘Under compulsion’
Even the RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwary said that given the way the BJP was celebrating the court order, it seemed that the party was supporting the caste-based survey under compulsion.
“Why is the BJP celebrating the decision of the High Court on caste -based survey? Was BJP supporting the caste-based survey under compulsion? The BJP has never supported the reservation for the backwards from the heart. On the basis of the recommendation of the Mandal Commission by the V.P. Singh government, Advani ji took out the Rath Yatra protesting against the provision of reservation in Central government jobs,“ Mr. Tiwary said.
‘Opposing OBC quota’
He further said that Youth for Equality, which protested caste enumeration in the Supreme Court and then in the High Court, was an organisation of youth opposing reservation for the backward classes.
Mr. Tiwary noted that this organisation had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the 10% reservation on economic grounds. They said that the reservation given to the economically weaker youth of the general category should not be given separately, but should be given within the 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
“In 2001 itself, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) of the Indian Parliament, constituted under the chairmanship of Kariya Munda, made a strong recommendation for reservation in the appointment of judges in the higher judiciary. If the BJP considers the caste system as a curse for the country, then does it support reservation in the higher judiciary as per the recommendation of the Kariya Munda Committee to remove the social imbalance in the higher judiciary?“ Mr. Tiwary asked.
Nitish Kumar has not spoken to the media after the court’s order. On Friday, he took part in two different programmes of the Bihar government, but when reporters asked questions related to the court’s order, he remained silent.
