Chirag Paswan camp calls Nitish Kumar's caste survey a betrayal of Dalits, tribals
Union Minister Chirag Paswan's party MP and brother-in-law, Arun Bharti, has hit out at the caste survey, which was conducted by the Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar in 2023, calling it a fraud and conspiracy against the marginalised section of the society including Dalits and Adivasis."Caste survey in the Mahagathbandhan government was a fraud and a well-planned conspiracy to keep the Bahujan community deprived of their rights", Arun Bharti said.advertisementArun Bharti, raised questions on the caste survey conducted by the Mahagathbandhan government and slammed then-Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav for using the entire exercise to strengthen the Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) vote bank of Muslims and Yadavs.
"Tejashwi Yadav was the one who made the most noise about the caste survey and had claimed it would be a revolutionary step towards social justice, but what happened was just a half-baked caste survey wrapped in political cleverness in which there was neither social justice nor inclusive thinking. It was only to strengthen the claim to the chair by highlighting the number of its M-Y vote bank", Bharti said.The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) [LJP(R)] MP added that the caste survey only counted the number of castes but did not provide details regarding which caste was how poor, which caste had access to education and which not, what is the share of various castes in government services and who has what rights over the land and resources.advertisement"Caste survey was a well-planned conspiracy to keep the Muslim and Yadav vote bank in power and administration. The survey was direct deceit against the Dalit, Mahadalit and tribal communities. The real objective was to convert the number of castes into a vote bank and strengthen their claim to power and not to give opportunities and rights to the deprived class", he said.Praising the recently notified proposed caste census by the central government, he said Chirag Paswan played a decisive role in the government getting approval for the actual caste census to take place, in which the idea was not only to collect numbers, but also to get details regarding the educational, economic and administrative roles of different castes."Now not just numbers, but complete social and economic details will be recorded. The condition of the Bahujan community will be presented with evidence in the constitution, policy and the court so that they can get a constitution and equitable reservation. The data collected will become a solid foundation for expanding reservations and policymaking in favour of the Bahujan community", Arun Bharti said.- Ends
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