Lalu charges BJP-RSS combine with 'apathy' toward OBCs and EBCs
What's the story
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday charged BJP-RSS combine with "apathy" toward OBCs and EBCs, a day after the Centre told the Supreme Court that it would not be able to enumerate numerically powerful social groups as part of the census. Yadav, who was released from jail earlier this year, came out with the vitriolic attack on his official Twitter handle.
Caste census would have benefited all: Yadav
"All types of birds, animals, trees, and plants can be counted but not humans belonging to the other backward classes and the extremely backward classes. Wow! Why does the BJP-RSS have so much antipathy for the backward?" Yadav tweeted. "Caste census would have benefited all. It would have given an exact idea of the population of respective segments," he tweeted in Hindi.
Decision
Centre took 'conscious policy decision' against headcount of OBCs, EBCs
On Thursday, the Centre had submitted before the apex court that it had taken a "conscious policy decision" against a headcount of OBCs and EBCs as part of the census since undertaking such an exercise would have been "administratively cumbersome." The submission was in line with the stand taken by the Union government during the monsoon session of Parliament.
Temper
Decision raised hackles of the political class in Bihar
This had raised the hackles of the political class in Bihar, where OBCs have been a dominant force since the Mandal churn of the 1990s. Yadav, who has been arguably one of the biggest beneficiaries of the backward uprising in the state, also accused the RSS-BJP of committing a big fraud (bada chhal) with the OBCs and EBCs.
Population
Yadav slammed government for saying no to caste-based census
"If just another column in the census form, for the benefit of about 60 percent of the country's population, cannot be added, then fie upon such a government," Yadav said. "And all those belonging to these classes who have become MPs and ministers should be socially boycotted," fumed the septuagenarian, whose party had drawn a blank in the last general election.
Other details
Issue became point of agreement between Yadav and Nitish Kumar
Notably, the issue of caste census has become a point of agreement for Yadav and his arch-rival Nitish Kumar, the current chief minister who recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press the demand. Yadav's son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, who is the leader of the opposition in the assembly, was also a part of the delegation.