RJD calls Bihar shutdown on July 27 over caste census

A day after leading a protest march through the state capital, RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday called for a Bihar bandh (shutdown) on July 27 to protest the withholding of caste-based census data by the central government.

Lalu Prasad said he would also stage a daylong fast on July 26 to put pressure on the Centre and threatened to call for an indefinite shutdown in the state if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government failed to make public the caste-based census data.

"I and my party will not sit silently; we have to mobilise people against the withholding of the caste-based census data by the Centre," the former Bihar chief minister told media here.

Lalu Prasad on Monday exhorted the people belonging to 'Mandal' (the backward classes) to rise and uproot the 'kamandal' (anti-backward classes BJP).

He said such a step was required because "the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government is anti-poor, anti-backward classes and anti-dDalits".

Lalu Prasad also appealed to all Dalits, other backward classes and Muslims to unite against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief threatened to launch a bigger movement than the Mandal movement of the 1990s if the Modi government failed to make public the caste-based census data without further delay.