Holding caste-based ‘counting’, not census in Bihar: CM Nitish

The Bihar government is holding a caste-based “counting” and not a census in the state, chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Tuesday, a day after the Union government told the Supreme Court that only the Centre is empowered to carry out a census under the Constitution.

Kumar, a key constituent of the Opposition INDIA bloc, also said that the Lok Sabha elections next year are likely to be advanced because the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fears it will suffer because of Opposition unity.

“We are not doing a census. It was made clear at the outset. It is counting. While conducting a census, information is collected about people under the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and minorities. This is not just religion or caste-based counting; a lot of things are also being done with it,” Kumar told reporters after inaugurating a newly-constructed building at Nalanda Open University.

“We are collecting details about the economic condition of different groups, be it the upper caste, Other Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, SCs, STs or minorities to plan for their development. We are doing it for the welfare of all,” he added.

The Janata Dal (United) leader said the government is trying to work for the people’s well-being, but some had their “reservations”. “But there is no meaning to such reservations. The survey part is over and once the data is processed, it will be published for a proper understanding,” he said.

The survey to compile the socioeconomic data of each family in the state was held in two phases; the first round was conducted between January 7 and 21. The second round started on April 15, and was scheduled to continue till May 15, but halfway through the process, the Patna high court temporarily suspended the survey. The exercise resumed on August 2 after the high court gave its approval, and concluded on August 6.

A bunch of petitions in the top court have challenged the August 1 judgment of the high court that allowed the government to carry out the exercise. On August 18, the top court observed that it cannot restrain the Bihar government from publishing the cumulative data or findings of the caste survey unless there was a prima facie case to show violation of any constitutional right or lack of competence on the part of the state government.

On Monday, the Union government submitted in the top court that only the Centre is empowered under the Constitution to carry out a census. In a short affidavit filed through the ministry of home affairs, the Centre maintained that census is enumerated as a subject under entry 69 in the Union list of the seventh schedule of the Constitution.

Kumar targeted the Centre over the delay in the decadal census, saying it should have been completed in 2021. “We have been saying for a long time that the same (caste count) should be done for others also but it was not done. It should have been done in 2021. So much time has elapsed, but the (decadal) census could not be started,” he said.

The Janata Dal (United) attacked the Centre over its affidavit in the top court. “What the Centre has said in its affidavit is nothing but reiteration of the petitioners in the Supreme Court... The sad part is that the stand of the petitioners and the Central government is the same – that census is in the Union list,” parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said.

Choudhary also alleged the Centre’s lack of clarity on the matter was reflected in the “revision of the affidavit” in the top court within a few hours of its submission.

There were two affidavits filed by the Centre on Monday. The first affidavit was a more direct opposition to Bihar’s exercise, asserting that only the Union government is entitled to carry out not only a census but also “any action akin to census”.

Hours later, another affidavit was filed to do away with the paragraph that disputed the authority of states to conduct “any action akin to census”.

“They (the BJP) tried to get so many petitions filed to derail the (survey) process and when nothing worked, they are doing this (filing affidavits) in the top court,” Choudhary said.

Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi, however, said the caste survey was a decision made by the NDA government and the Centre had only reiterated that the census was the sole prerogative of the Union government.

“The Bihar government has also categorically said in its affidavit in the high court that it is not carrying a census, but survey. If it is a survey, the Centre has not opposed it anywhere. The Grand Alliance leaders hoped the Centre would oppose the caste survey, but they are now upset as it has not happened. It has just presented the Constitutional point. The state government is free to hold survey to collect data, but cannot go in for a census,” he said.

In his press conference, Kumar also said that the Lok Sabha elections next year are likely to be advanced as the BJP fears with time, it will suffer more loss because of Opposition unity.

“I have been saying it for the last seven-eight months that the NDA government at the Centre might go for early Lok Sabha polls, fearing more loss to the BJP because of opposition unity,” he said.

“Therefore, all opposition parties must come together to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. I am once again repeating that I have no desire for myself, I have no personal ambitions,” he added.