Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah to provide logical reasons for raising questions over the caste-based survey report released by the Bihar government. Mr. Yadav said the State government had scientific data and the report was based on it. He said that Mr. Shah’s objections were based on assumptions and an indication of the BJP’s “frustration”.
Mr. Yadav was speaking on the first day of the Bihar Assembly’s winter session, when the Opposition BJP tried to corner the State government over alleged irregularities in the caste-based survey report.
On his first visit to Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district following the release of the report, Mr. Shah had on Sunday termed the report an eyewash, and alleged that, under pressure from RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) had been undercounted, and the Yadav and Muslim populations had been deliberately inflated.
“On what basis is Amit Shah saying that there are irregularities in the caste-based survey? If they have a basis or logic, then it should be put forward. We have scientific data and on the basis of that, the government released the figures. If the caste survey data of Bihar is wrong, then why doesn’t the Central government conduct a caste census in the entire country and release its data? Amit Shah comes to Bihar and the public is hearing everything he says. We want him to come to Bihar again and again because the grand alliance will benefit from his visits,” Mr. Yadav said.
He also asked why the BJP was not conducting caste-based surveys in BJP-ruled States, directing his question to Mr. Shah.
“How many OBC (Other Backward Classes)/SC (Scheduled Castes)/ST (Scheduled Tribes) Cabinet ministers are there in the Central government, and how many are non-OBC/SC/ST? There are a few Ministers for the sake of formalities and they have been given less important departments and portfolios. How many Chief Ministers of the BJP are OBC, SC and ST? Tell us the percentage of Backward [Classes] and non-Backward [Classes] [BJP] Chief Ministers? How many Backward [Classes] and Extremely Backward [Classes] leaders of the BJP are Cabinet Ministers from Bihar?” Mr. Yadav asked.
When queried about Mr. Shah’s allegations regarding the “inflated” populations of Yadavs and Muslims, and the undercounting of EBCs, Mr. Yadav said that Mr. Shah was speaking based on the assumptions.
“If the numbers are deliberately inflated, and Nitish-ji is the Chief Minister of Bihar, don’t you think that he [Mr. Kumar] would have increased the population of the Kurmi caste [to which the CM belongs]. This cannot be the logic at all. BJP leaders are saying all this out of frustration,” Mr. Yadav said.
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi also reacted on the issue. He asked Mr. Kumar how the population of many backward castes, including Chandravanshis, Dhanuks, and Kushwahas, and forward castes, including Brahmins, Rajputs, and Bhumihars, had dropped in the survey report.
“According to the caste census of 1931 and the caste survey of 2023, the population of Yadavs in Bihar increased from 12.7% to 14.3%, and the Muslim population increased from 14.6% to 17.7%. How come the population of more than two dozen forward and backward castes decreased in 92 years? The Chief Minister should answer this,” Mr. Modi said.
The BJP leader further said that those seeking a national caste census should explain why Mr. Lalu Prasad had not sought it by pressurising the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2011.
