Patna,(BiharTimes): Chief minister Nitish Kumar and leader of Hindustani Awam Morcha and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday joined RJD chief Lalu Prasad in demanding release of caste-wise figures of the socio economic and caste census (SECC).
Talking to the media Nitish said he is unable to fathom as to why the Centre is not making the caste-data public when the exercise of caste-wise census has been completed. He doubted the intention of people sitting in the government in the Centre.
The chief minister also said that caste-census was conducted on the demand of people. When it has been completed it must be made public as they would know about it and governments would make plans for welfare and uplift of different castes on the basis of such data.
According to him it seems the Centre does not want development of different castes. They have no commitment towards any caste though people in BJP always hold caste-based conferences.
He alleged that no party was more casteist than the BJP. The projection of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial choice last year is one such example.
On the other hand Jitan Ram Manjhi, otherwise an ally of the BJP, questioned the intention of the Centre behind withholding the caste-wise figures.
When caste survey has been done what is need of keeping it secret, he asked. He also said that the caste-wise break up would reveal as to what is the number of different castes of OBCs and minorities. The caste break-up would help different governments to prepare budget for the welfare of the people. It is not proper to link this issue with caste only.