Bihar surveys 209 castes to reignite Mandal politics
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar with his deputy Tejashwi Yadav
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, October 2: Bihar government had approved the caste survey in June last year and the Patna High Court had paused the headcount on May 4 to give the go ahead in August. The survey had started rolling in January this year and despite a pause of three months the whole exercise was wrapped up in a record time to deliver the first caste data for any state to set the template for the Lok Sabha elections.
The fast-paced survey counted 13 crore people of Bihar to announce that a total of 63 per cent of the state’s population belonged to backward castes. “Bihar had approved the caste survey on June 2, 2022 by bearing the cost from own resources. The survey has yielded data not only of castes but also of the socio-economic conditions. The Bihar government will formulate policies now accordingly for the wellbeing of all sections,” said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a post on X.
The extremely backward castes formed over 36 per cent of the population of Bihar. The backward castes constituted 27.16 per cent of the total population as per the caste data revealed by the state government. The scheduled cates formed 19.65 per cent of the state’s population. The unreserved category formed a little over 15 per cent of Bihar’s population.
Yadav caste was the most dominant with over 14 per cent share, while the survey data gave the headcounts for 209 castes across all the religions. The caste survey had run into legal tussle, but finally cleared the hurdle to deliver the data at a time when the political parties are warming up for the Assembly elections in five states and the Lok Sabha polls next year.
Following in the footsteps of Bihar, Odisha also had begun the caste survey to counter the Opposition claims of inadequate participation of the other backward castes in the benefits of the state. The Congress has demanded caste-based census on the national level.
“What has the BJP done for the extremely backward caste…they have been given identity only in Bihar,” the Bihar chief minister said on Monday. The Bihar caste data is set to be exploited by the Opposition to turn heat on the BJP in its bid to counter the politics of Hindutva by stoking Mandal politics. Caste-based census is seemingly at the core of the social justice poll plank of the Opposition block which has come under the banner of the Indian National Developmental and Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
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