Patna, Sep 3 — RJD supremo Lalu Prasad has sharply criticized the BJP-led NDA government over its stance on the caste census, declaring that the opposition will apply such intense pressure that the government will have no choice but to conduct the census.
Prasad’s comments come in the wake of a recent statement by the RSS, which expressed conditional support for the caste census—stipulating that the collected data should benefit underprivileged communities rather than being used for political purposes.
“We will hold the RSS and BJP accountable, force them to comply, and ensure the caste census is carried out. What authority do they have to refuse it? We will apply so much pressure that they will have to conduct it. It’s time for Dalits, backward classes, tribals, and the poor to unite,” Prasad stated in a social media post.
Prasad made these remarks upon returning to Patna from Singapore, where he underwent a successful kidney transplant operation in December 2022.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) recently organized a statewide sit-in on September 1, calling for a nationwide caste census and urging the Bihar government to include a quota increase for backward classes in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. In his address to party workers in Patna, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav accused both the NDA government at the Centre and in Bihar of opposing reservations for marginalized communities and the caste census. He also criticized the central government for allegedly misleading Parliament and the public regarding the inclusion of an increased quota for deprived castes in Bihar’s Ninth Schedule.
