Patna: RJD president Lalu Prasad on Wednesday took a fresh jibe at the Narendra Modi government on the caste census issue, which the OBC stalwart and his ilk believe, could usher in a second Mandal wave.
The ailing septuagenarian, who is in Delhi, took to Twitter to allege that the ruling dispensation was averse to a headcount of the OBCs whom it considered “worse than even animals”.
The former Bihar chief minister shared a Hindi newspaper report, which spoke about the rise in the number of crocodiles found in the river Gandak, which flows through the state.
“The Union government counts even crocodiles, but refuses to do so for the numerically powerful (bahusankhyak) poor, deprived and downtrodden Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes,” Prasad, who has also served as a Union minister in the government headed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said.
The report cites the findings of Wildlife Trust of India, a non-government organisation.
Notably, the Centre has made it clear that it will not undertake, as part of the census, a headcount of social groups other than the SCs, the STs and religious minorities.
This was resented in Bihar, where resolutions calling for a caste census had been passed in both houses of the legislature twice, with even members of the BJP voting in favour.
The state government, headed by Prasad’s arch rival-turned-ally Nitish Kumar, last year ordered a survey of castes, holding that the last caste census was conducted nearly a century ago, and there was an urgent need for a fresh estimate.
However, the survey was stayed by the Patna High Court earlier this year and the state government has moved the Supreme Court in appeal.
Prasad, whose combativeness in the political arena has been legendary, insisted in the tweet, “The RSS/BJP considers OBCs as worse than animals. Hence, it has a problem with, both, caste census and caste survey. Wonder why is the BJP so full of hatred for the backward classes?”
Prasad’s RJD is the largest constituent of the multi-party Mahagathbandhan’ that includes Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), the Congress and the Left.
Leaders of the multi-party coalition believe that with the coming together of Prasad and Kumar, two tallest leaders thrown up by the Mandal churn of 1990s, Bihar could see a massive OBC consolidation, much to the detriment of “pro-upper caste BJP”.
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