Seemingly in the last stretch of his political career, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is preparing for one big hurrah to sign off. Kumar recently re-ignited his demand for a caste-based census, despite the centre on multiple occasions refusing his request. Kumar’s demand found an unlikely supporter in former CM Jitin Ram Manjhi who has thrown his weight behind the leader, with experts’ claiming that RJD is also providing tacit support to Kumar’s endeavours.
“The caste-based Census should be done at least once. It will be easy for the government to identify the poor other than the Dalits and help formulate schemes for their welfare”, Nitish Kumar was quoted as saying by PTI.
हम लोगों का मानना है कि जाति आधारित जनगणना होनी चाहिए। बिहार विधान मंडल ने दिनांक-18.02.19 एवं पुनः बिहार विधान सभा ने दिनांक-27.02.20 को सर्वसम्मति से इस आशय का प्रस्ताव पारित किया था तथा इसेे केन्द्र सरकार को भेजा गया था। केन्द्र सरकार को इस मुद्दे पर पुनर्विचार करना चाहिए।
— Nitish Kumar (@NitishKumar) July 24, 2021
RJD and JDU are the two parties that rely solely on the caste-based lines and particularly the Backward and Dalit votes to survive. Nitish wants a sneak peek into the numbers and plan a future course of action for his party. It cannot be ruled that if the centre doesn’t cede to his demands, he could go back and tie-up with RJD once again, just the way he did in the 2015 assembly polls.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on Tuesday categorically told the parliament that no such data was to be enumerated, “The government has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in the Census.
Meanwhile, Jitan Ram Manjhi took to Twitter and batted for Kumar and his demands by tweeting, “If there can be a census of snakes, tigers, goats in the country, then why not the castes? The caste Census is necessary for the development of the country.”
He also added, “It needs to be found which caste has how much population and how much share it has in the government.”
जब देश में सांप,बाघ,बकरी की जनगणना हो सकती है तो फिर जातियों की क्यों नहीं?
देश के विकास के लिए जातिगत जनगणना जरूरी है।
पता तो लगे कि किसकी कितनी आबादी है और उसे सत्ता में कितनी भागीगारी मिली।— Jitan Ram Manjhi (@jitanrmanjhi) July 24, 2021
According to media reports, after a meeting with his party leaders, Manjhi told the press that his party stands strongly in support of Nitish Kumar as the latter has differences on several contentious issues with the BJP.
Moreover, on the Population Control Bill that was recently introduced by Bihar’s neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh on World Population Day, a jaded Nitish Kumar didn’t sound optimistic about bringing one such bill in Bihar where population is a big impediment in the state’s progress. Kumar claimed that the best way to curb population explosion was to educate the girl child.
“I have nothing to say about what other states plan to do but my conviction, which is backed by experience, has been that things come under control once we take steps to educate the girl child,” said Kumar.
Several state governments, especially those ruled by the BJP, have spoken in favour of taking the legislative route to check India’s population. However, by taking an independent and rebellious line, Nitish Kumar is setting himself up for contempt. However, if he has already made up his mind of switching the flanks, one can understand why he has been challenging the BJP on several key issues.