Pitching for a comprehensive classification of caste data before its release, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that once in public domain it will hit leaders like Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar the most. Paswan, Lok Janshakti Party chief, also claimed the Extremely Backward Castes among the OBCs have shifted allegiance to the NDA led by Indian Prime Minister, who himself belongs to EBC.
“LJP’s demand is that even if there is some delay, the government should make the caste data public only after its thorough classification. The categorisation will take time but when it is out, those who are making the maximum noise over it will be hit the hardest,” he said.
Bihar’s JD(U) Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who have stitched up an alliance for the state Assembly polls, have been insisting on the data being released immediately.
Parties like Samajwadi Party, JD(U), RJD and DMK have criticised the Centre for not releasing the caste-based data in the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), the first in eight decades since 1912. The government on Thursday set up an expert group headed by NITI Ayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya to collate caste count and blamed the states for not being able to complete the consolidation of different categories.
“Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, who have benefited from Mandal politics, will be the big losers as other smaller castes among backwards, who together numerically outnumber some particular dominant upper castes, will seek their share of power,” Paswan told Reportes in an interview.
Paswan, who was a member of the V P Singh Cabinet when Mandal Commission’s recommendations were implemented, also said the NDA, of which he is a part now, will win Bihar polls hands down if the data comes out.
On Lalu and Nitish Kumar’s contention that Narendra Modi was not the first OBC Prime Minister as claimed by BJP chief Amit Shah, Paswan said former PM H D Deve Gowda was a Vokkaliga, which is a powerful community in Karnataka.
“Modi’s caste falls under extremely backdward castes (EBC) in Gujarat,” he said and exuded confidence that EBCs will vote for NDA. Quoting from Ram Manohar Lohia’s book “Wheel of History”, Paswan said the late socialist leader had predicted that power will first transfer from upper castes to powerful castes among OBCs, but if the dominant castes among OBCs behave in the same manner with the lower castes, the lower castes will ally with upper castes again.
Paswan said it was witnessed in Uttar Pradesh when Dalits and upper castes, especially Brahmins, joined hands with Jatavs under Mayawati. “It will happen in Bihar as well. Upper castes, extremely backward castes, dalits and mahadalits have already come together.
Last Lok Sabha polls. It will happen again,” he said.
“I want to ask what Kush got during Nitish’s rule. Upendra Kushwaha had to part ways with him and now he is a Union minister,” he said. Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, which broke away from JD(U), is a part of the NDA.
Asserting that JD(U)-RJD alliance has “no future”, the LJP president claimed Yadavs will not vote for candidates of Nitish Kumar’s party.
“Past experience shows that Laluji fails to get his votes transferred to other alliance partners. His vote base never voted for LJP candidates when we fought in alliance with Lalu,” he said.
Entrepreneurs came forward to provide employment to laborers
Due to Corona crisis in Uttar Pradesh, many industrial groups and entrepreneurs have come forward to provide work to migrant workers who have returned home from outside. The state government claims
Power Crisis: States did not pay Coal India's 21 thousand crore rupees, nor did they raise coal
To end the deepening power crisis in the country, several steps have been taken by the Central Government with immediate effect. Under this, while instructions have been given to increase coal
The big change in Indian cricket: Ravi Shastri, head coach of the cricket team, may leave the post, 'Shastri's team India could not win a single ICC title in 4 years
The big news is coming out about the Indian cricket team. Team India's head coach Ravi Shastri can soon leave Team India's side. Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and
Great deal to buy the OnePlus 10R 5G cheaply, Amazon is giving a huge discount, know full details
OnePlus 10R 5G Discount Offer: OnePlus 10R 5G is a powerful phone coming with the company's 150W fast charging, 50MP camera, and 12GB RAM. If you were waiting to get less money or a good offer on this
Nuh Violence: City turned into a cantonment, internet services shut down; 30 crore online transactions were affected; all day high alert
A high alert has been declared in the city after the uproar after Jalabhishek in Nuh's Nalhad temple. To prevent inflammatory posts and rumors, the district administration suspended internet services
Will not get relief from winter now: Mercury will fall by 3 degrees in Delhi, Rajasthan, and MP, the cold wave will prevail; Chances of rain in more than 10 states
It has been cold in North India for the past few days. The Meteorological Department has issued a warning saying that the cold wave may return in the northwest plains and parts of North India by the
Delhi Liquor Scam... Kejriwal may also be interrogated by CBI-ED: Manish Sisodia came on the radar after changing many handsets and SIMs, the computer sent him to jail
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal may consider the excise policy scam as a fraud, but the way the CBI team probing the case is collecting digital and forensic evidence may increase the trouble for
The US on China: Antony Blinken said, America does not want a second cold war, and advised China to follow international rules
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a much-anticipated speech on Thursday that we do not want conflict or a new Cold War. On the contrary, we are trying to avoid both ie conflict and the cold
PM Modi Letter: Before the announcement of elections, PM Modi's message to the country, this appeal to the public
PM Modi Letter: Now only a few hours are left for the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission will announce the election dates at 3 pm today. Before this, PM Modi has written
China removed the sign of Tiananmen: Where thousands of people were fired upon, the statue of democracy was also removed from there, US said - trying to erase history
Today, 33 years ago on June 4, 1989, in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, the capital of China, thousands of people were agitating for a peaceful demand for democracy. The government brought down the