Election strategist Prashant Kishor on October 10 claimed that the caste based survey released by Bihar government is the final attempt of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a political survival by dividing society along caste lines. Mr. Kishor also announced if Janata Dal (United) wins even five seats in the Lok Sabha election, he will publicly apologise.
Mr. Kishor said this during his ongoing Jan Suraj Pad-Yatra in Sitamarhi district while interacting with the journalist in Berganiya.
Of the caste survey report, Mr. Kishor said, “Nitish Kumar’s political career is nearing its end, and this is his final attempt to divide society and set it on fire in order to run his affairs. I can state this in writing, based on my political understanding, that if the JD(U) wins even five seats, I will publicly apologise in front of everyone. This is the last attempt which will have no impact.”
Ever since the caste based survey was released on October 2, by the grand alliance government in Bihar, opposition leaders have been raising questions on it. According to the report the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) is the largest block in Bihar with 36.01%. share followed by the Other Backward Class (OBC) which is the second biggest block with a 27.12% share.
Many BJP leaders have claimed the survey report was fake and some leaders said that many castes have been undercounted. Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD) president Upendra Kushwaha had said that the survey has left everyone in a state of confusion. He has already announced to undertake a protest march on October 14 demanding an authentic caste survey.
Kishor further said that although 18% of the population in Bihar are Muslims how many MLAs and Ministers were Muslims.
“Only two people have control over every department in the Bihar government - the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav control more than ten departments and more than half of the Bihar government’s budget. So, whose share are they referring to? They have already taken everyone’s share. How many people from EBC have been given tickets and how many have been elected as MLAs? Out of the 75 MLAs of RJD, how many are from the EBC? The people of the society are not fools to not understand such basic politics,” Kishor said.
Out of 75, RJD has 55 MLAs from Yadav community which falls under OBC. Similarly, in terms of total representation of the MLAs in the current assembly EBC is 11.52% whereas OBC is 32.92%.
JD(U) MLC Neeraj Kumar hit back at Mr. Kishor for his prediction and termed him an agent of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr. Kumar also said that his statement is nothing but frustration after the survey has set a national agenda and left BJP in isolation.
Meanwhile, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar, who was in Patna to address a rally termed the caste survey report as a bundle of lies. He claimed that the survey was never carried out, calling the report a ‘fake’ published by the Bihar government.
