Credit for the caste census goes to Nitish Kumar: Bihar Minister

Patna, April 30 (IANS) Bihar Water Resource Minister Vijay Chaudhary said on Wednesday that the credit for the Central government decision on caste census goes to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

“This initiative owes its roots to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been consistently raising the issue when others hesitated. The credit must go to Nitish Kumar. He first raised this demand. While Congress and Mamata Banerjee opposed it within the INDIA Bloc, Nitish Kumar made it a national issue,” Chaudhary claimed.

He further claimed that Bihar Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tejashwi Yadav didn’t raise the caste census issue earlier. “He is now claiming victory. And Congress, after opposing the idea, wants to claim credit as well. Even Rahul Gandhi’s stance is confusing,” he claimed.

Chaudhary also pointed out Bihar’s proactive stance in pushing for constitutional backing. “The Bihar government fought for increased reservation and even sent a proposal to include it in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. We are fighting in the Supreme Court to protect this policy,” Chaudhary said.

Meanwhile, Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor emphasised that merely collecting caste data is not enough.

“A census won’t improve the country by itself. The real change happens only when governments act on their findings,” Kishor said.

Referring to Bihar’s caste census, he noted: “It was said that poor families would be given Rs 2 lakh for employment. How many have received it? Buying a book doesn’t make you a scholar, you have to read.”

Nitish Kumar welcomed the Centre’s decision, reiterating that there was a long-standing demand that would help in framing better policies.

--IANS

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