'No revert from PM yet': Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on his letter seeking caste-specific census

Speaking on the demand for a caste-based census, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said on Monday that he is yet to receive a reply from PM Narendra Modi on the issue. The 2021 census was scheduled to begin from April last year but couldn't take off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bihar CM had written a letter to PM Modi earlier urging the Centre for a caste-based census. He had also reaffirmed his demand in July this year, stressing the caste-based census.

The Bihar CM said, "We haven't received any reply (to the letter) from the PM yet. We want a caste-based Census & it's our old demand. Caste-based Census will help all castes to get their exact numbers, to create policies accordingly. It's for the benefit of the country." Earlier this month, JD(U) MPs, led by their newly elected president Rajiv Ranjan Singh, met Home Minister Amit Shah to demanding the same.

RJD and JDU spar over caste-based census

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) organised a demonstration outside its Patna headquarters on Saturday, demanding that the state conduct a caste-based census. However, RJD leader and the Leader of the Opposition at the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, accused Nitish Kumar of portraying the caste-based census as his own concept when it was first presented by former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur. Thereafter, Tejashwi Yadav slammed the Centre for not performing the census, claiming that the plan had been provided to the Centre on three prior occasions. Tejashwi Yadav and Nitish Kumar had also met and discussed presenting a recommendation to the Centre.

However, the allies BJP and JD(U) seem to have opposing views on the issue, JD(U) leader Upendra Kushwaha intimated. Also, another NDA ally Apna Dal (S), an Uttar Pradesh-based party, has also echoed similar sentiments as that of the JD(U), demanding a caste-based census. Eyeing the upcoming assembly elections in the state next year, the Apna Dal (S) has also demanded a separate Union Ministry for the welfare of the OBC. The call marks significance as the community constitutes the single largest mass of voters in the state and it could be a game-changer for the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh.

Besides several political parties, the National Commission for Backward Classes, too, in April this year, had urged the Centre to collect data on the population of OBCs as part of the Census of India 2021. The Union Home Ministry had in 2018 envisioned collecting data on OBCs for the first time in the 2021 census.

However, the Ministry of Home Affairs had said that the Centre would not be including caste-wise data on population other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the national Census.

The Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanad Rai, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on March 10 this year, said that after Independence, India decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than that of the SCs and STs in the census. He added that the castes and tribes that are specifically notified as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as per the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, are enumerated.