By PTI
PATNA: Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday asserted that his party has always been in support of a caste census, which has become a burning issue in the state, and rebutted the “dushprachaar” (misinformation) on part of political rivals.
The former Bihar deputy chief minister came out with a video and a series of tweets asserting that the BJP has all through remained in support of the caste census demand even though the Narendra Modi government at the Centre has expressed inability to get it conducted because of “practicalities”.
Sushil Modi’s averment came in the wake of the contention by Lalu Prasad’s RJD that the BJP has been opposed to social justice and thus it had not agreed to caste census nationally and was indifferent towards getting the same conducted on a state level despite being a partner in the Nitish Kumar government.
The former deputy CM pointed out that the BJP had voted in the favour of two resolutions passed by both houses of the legislature in Bihar in support of a caste census and “a senior cabinet minister from our party, Janak Ram, was a part of the delegation led by the CM that had met PM Narendra Modi to press the demand last year”.
He also underscored that the BJP had similarly backed the demand when it was raised in adjoining Jharkhand where “our state president was part of the delegation formed to meet the PM”.
“We voted in favour of a resolution on caste census when it was passed in Odisha. When state-specific caste surveys were conducted in Telangana and Karnataka we did not oppose the same. Parliament’s records are proof that our late leader Gopinath Munde had strongly supported caste census when there was a debate on the issue in 2010, while the Congress-led UPA was in power,” Modi added.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has indicated that a state-specific survey will be conducted soon after seeking inputs from different groups at an all-party meeting.
