Express News Service
PATNA: Reiterating for continued demand of a caste-based census, leader of opposition in Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, on Thursday questioned PM Modi about the lack of one for people belonging to the OBC category.
Tejashwi took to his Twitter handle and said that BJP supported caste census in both the houses of Bihar, but in the Parliament itself, the minister of state, who also belongs to a backward caste, announced against conducting it.
“Why does the central government not want to conduct the OBC census? Why is BJP nurturing so much hatred for the people of backward or extreme backward classes? he asked, lashing out at the Centre.
READ MORE | No Census of castes other than SC and ST, says Centre in Parliament
Slamming the BJP, he also questioned why a census of animals like elephants and horses, dogs, cats, lions, among others can be carried out but not one for those hailing from the OBC category.
He added that unless the actual number of backward classes is not known, welfare schemes for them cannot be formulated.
“How will their educational, social, political, and economic betterment happen? How will the budget be allocated in proportion to the numbers of people of OBC and extremely poor classes without census? Our party has fought a long battle for the caste census and will continue to fight,” Tejashwi said.
The RJD in Bihar has been demanding a caste-based census for a long time. After RJD, the ruling JD-U has also advocated for it for the OBC community and other backward classes.
Resolutions to this effect were adopted and passed unanimously in the Bihar Assembly in 2019 and 2020.
Local political experts said that denial of BJP-led central government in conducting caste census has proven to be a major blow for both the RJD and the JD-U.
They opine that JD-U’s opposition to the New Population Policy law enacted by the UP government led the BJP to deny the conduct of caste census.
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