United opposition to take on govt over caste census

Sharad Yadav is in talks with opposition to 'force' govt to bring the caste count in public domain

Government could face a united oOpposition attack in monsoon session of Parliament over not releasing the caste count data in the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011, with parties like Congress, CPI(M), DMK, SP, RJD and JD(U) closing ranks on the issue.

While the government has categorically ruled out that not releasing the caste count has nothing to do with Bihar polls, Lalu Prasad's RJD and Nitish Kumar's JD(U), which have come together to fight the state's Assembly elections have made a strong pitch to make it public in an apparent attempt to consolidate OBC votes.

Mindful of the strength of OBCs in Hindi heartland, the BJP has formed OBC Morcha to boost electoral fortunes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where polls will take place this year and in 2017 respectively, and where backward communities constitute a sizeable chunk of the population.

JD(U) president Sharad Yadav told PTI that the issue will be raised in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and he is in talks with other Opposition parties to firm up a joint strategy to "force" government to bring the caste count in public domain.

Alleging that government is "hiding the truth from the country" by not releasing the data of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Class, Minority and Upper Class in the country so as to "minimise the quota for reserved classes cleverly in future", Yadav said, "We will raise the issue of caste count both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha."

Yadav found non-releasing of caste count as "ridiculous" and alleged that it is "not in consonance with the assurance given in Parliament by the then government in 2010" to conduct caste census to understand the status of various social groups in society and decide remedial course of action to uplift weaker and deprived sections.

"Present government has betrayed public by not fulfilling the assurance given on the floor of the House," he said.

In a statement, JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi said, "Janta Dal (U) condemns the central government's effort of not publishing the caste based data in its first Socio Economic and Caste Census, being released after eight decades. Janata Parivar will take this issue in coming Parliament session."

DMK Chief Karunanidhi, senior CPI(M) leader Subhasini Ali and Congress spokesperson Rajiv Gowda have also favoured making the caste count public.

Monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled from July 21 to August 13. Government is already facing heat on various issues and the political polarisation among Opposition on the caste count issue could create a further storm in the House.