Days after the Bihar Cabinet authorised a caste depend in Bihar, Sanjay Jaiswal, State chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), flagged two points over it. He stated the caste depend ought to guarantee Rohingyas and “people from Bangladesh” mustn’t undertake the train as a “cover for fake citizenship”, and 27% reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) shouldn’t be compromised as a big part of the Muslim inhabitants within the Seemanchal (border) areas of Bihar come from the ahead castes however avail OBC reservation.
When requested in regards to the points Mr. Jaiswal had raised, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar responded curtly with, “ Pata nahin (I’m not aware)”, and walked away.
Mr. Jaiswal additionally stated that his social gathering MLAs would elevate these points as soon as the caste depend modalities have been cleared and got here up within the State Assembly. “It should not happen that through this caste count, Rohingyas and people from Bangladesh get cover for fake citizenship. Proper care must be taken for this. Secondly, a large section of people in the Muslim community in the Seemanchal area come from upper caste (Sheikh) section but they avail OBC reservation facility of 27% by declaring them from backward (Kulharia) section. The Bihar Government must take all these things in this caste count exercise, otherwise the chances of 27% reservation for OBC people being compromised are very high,” Mr. Jaiswal stated whereas addressing the media on Saturday. “Therefore, we have cautioned the Chief Minister on these two issues and said that we support the caste count in the State.”
Also learn | Explainer: The Bihar authorities’s caste-count
“We are thankful to the Chief Minister, who has said that he will take care of the doubts of all political parties on the issue. Though we are in the government, our doubts too will be taken care of,” Mr. Jaiswal, who had raised comparable views through social media posts, stated.
In certainly one of his posts, Mr. Jaiswal stated: “The caste count will have to ensure that the list does not fudge the real status of castes and communities. As per government figures, there are 3,747 castes in India while the Centre itself said in its affidavit that about 4.30 lakh caste names emerged during the survey in 2011. This should not happen in Bihar and it will require utmost caution.”
Union Minister and firebrand model BJP MP from Begusarai, Giriraj Singh, echoed the same demand. “I’m in support of caste based survey but Muslims should also be considered as a caste and their head count also should take place. Whether it is Rohingyas or Bangladeshi Muslims who are staying illegally in Bihar, they should be kept out of this caste-based count. I believe the time has come to revisit the definition of minorities in the country. The word minorities should be removed from everywhere,” Mr. Singh stated.
Source: www.thehindu.com
