JD-U accuses BJP of acting from behind to foil caste-based survey

PATNA: Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of playing behind the curtains on the issue of the caste-based survey, the Janata Dal (United) on Sunday alleged that all the petitioners in the Patna high court against the state government’s exercise were associated with the saffron party.

A panel of JD-U spokespersons, led by chief spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar, alleged that the BJP had never been sincere in supporting the caste-based enumeration, which would help the state government frame policies for the uplift socially and economically marginalised sections, even though its leaders ostensibly supported the motion, whether in the legislature or for presenting the issue before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

To buttress his claim for petitioners’ connection with the BJP, Kumar claimed that the Youth for Equality, an organisation that petitioned in the court against the enumeration, had openly supported the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) during the students’ union elections in Delhi University in 2006. “The petitioners, Sanjiv Kumar Ragi and Makhan Lal are deeply influenced by the Sangh ideology and fought battle against the reservations offered to the weaker sections of the society,” Kumar said, adding that Ragi is the head of the political science department of the DU.

Regarding Makhan Lal, Kumar claimed that his service was restored as a professor of history at the Aligarh Muslim University in November 2014 by the Modi government after he was sacked for misconduct. “Lal has also been given the responsibility of editing books in the NCERT,” alleged the JD(U) leader, adding that social media profiles and posts of other petitioners, including Bhure Lal and Ahana Kumari, also give an apparent hint of their affiliation with the BJP.

Terming the JD-U’s charges as baseless, BJP leader Achal Sinha said none of the petitioners were affiliated with the party. “The JD(U) is dragging the BJP’s name to hide its failures on all fronts. The caste-based enumeration issue is being raked up by the JD-U to grab people’s attention, as it has nothing to show anything as development. Law and order have taken to a new low,” the BJP leader claimed.

On Tuesday last, the Patna high court suspended the ongoing caste-based survey, saying the controversial exercise in its present form virtually amounted to a census that impinged upon Parliament’s domain. State BJP chief Samrat Chaudhary had attacked chief minister Nitish Kumar soon after the court’s stay and sought the resignation of his entire cabinet for its failure to defend itself before the court.