Patna: A day after the Patna High Court put an interim stay on the caste-based survery in Bihar, RJD President Lalu Yadav on Friday attacked the BJP saying that the party was the “direct opponent” of the survey. The Patna High Court on Thursday ordered an interim stay against the caste census underway across Bihar following a petition saying that the state government was not mandated to carry out the survey.
Attacking the BJP over the stalling of the caste-based survey, RJD supreme Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday accused the BJP of being the “direct opponent” to the survey. “Why is the BJP afraid of counting the majority of backward castes? The people of the country have understood the devious tricks of the BJP on the caste census,' Lalu Yadav said in a statement.
Also read:Patna High Court halts caste census in Bihar till July 3
The RJD supremo further said that the caste census is the “demand of the public and it will continue to happen''. The BJP has however said that the Nitish government “deliberately did not present its stand firmly in the Patna high court”. Significantly, on Thursday, a Division Bench of Patna HC comprising Chief Justice KV Chandran put an interim stay on the caste-based census in Bihar which would be in vogue until July 3.
Pertinently, the decision to conduct caste census in Bihar was taken after an all-party meeting in the state. The caste census, which was undertaken in Jan. this year was to be completed on May 15. A petition seeking a stay on the survey was initiall filed in the Supreme Court, which referred the plea to the Patna High Court.
The HC on Thursday put an interim stay on the exercise. According to the petitioner, the census by the Nitish Kumar led Bihar government did not come under the purview of the state government and was being conducted by the government when the subject falls outside the jurisdiction of the state government.
