Nitish Kumar slams BJP for not releasing socio-economic caste census

Kumar accused the BJP-led central government of committing "fraud" on the people by not going public with the caste data

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today mounted a verbal assault on BJP-led NDA government for not releasing socio-economic caste census and questioned the reason behind suppressing the data even as it was compiled on the basis of popular demand.

"What is the the Centre's justification for not releasing the caste data as under the socio-economic caste census when the people want to know about it?" Kumar asked at a press conference on the sidelines of his weekly programme, 'Janata Ke Durbar Mein Mukhyamantri' (CM at People's Court).

"There is a curiosity among the people to know the number of different castes as such census was last carried out in 1931," he said and asked the Centre to immediately release the caste data in deference to the aspirations of the people.

He also asked the Centre to undertake programmes for the development and welfare of those castes which have been lagging for decades.

Accusing the BJP-led central government of committing "fraud" on the people by not going public with the caste data, the Chief Minister charged the saffron party with adopting "double standards" by suppressing the said data even when it has not missed a single opportunity to harp on the caste identity of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for electoral benefits.

"You have no problem highlighting the Prime Minister's caste identity and play out caste politics in general elections, but when it comes to tell the people about their numbers you don't release the data... I don't understand the logic," the Chief Minister said.

BJP president Amit Shah had recently claimed that his party has given the country its first OBC Prime Minister in Narendra Modi apparently, with an eye on consolidation of OBC votes in Bihar Assembly polls later this this year, Kumar said.