Bihar BJP chief brings up Rohingyas, Muslims in State’s caste count

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar says ‘pata nahi’ (he is not aware)

Days after the Bihar Cabinet approved a caste count in Bihar, Sanjay Jaiswal, State chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), flagged two issues over it. He said the caste count should ensure Rohingyas and “people from Bangladesh” should not undertake the exercise as a “cover for fake citizenship”, and 27% reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) should not be compromised as a large section of the Muslim population in the Seemanchal (border) areas of Bihar come from the forward castes but avail OBC reservation.

When asked about the issues Mr. Jaiswal had raised, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar responded curtly with, “ Pata nahin (I’m not aware)”, and walked away.

Mr. Jaiswal also said that his party MLAs would raise these issues once the caste count modalities were cleared and came up in the State Assembly. “It should not happen that through this caste count, Rohingyas and people from Bangladesh get cover for fake citizenship. Proper care must be taken for this. Secondly, a large section of people in the Muslim community in the Seemanchal area come from upper caste (Sheikh) section but they avail OBC reservation facility of 27% by declaring them from backward (Kulharia) section. The Bihar Government must take all these things in this caste count exercise, otherwise the chances of 27% reservation for OBC people being compromised are very high,” Mr. Jaiswal said while addressing the media on Saturday. “Therefore, we have cautioned the Chief Minister on these two issues and said that we support the caste count in the State.”

Also read | Explainer: The Bihar government’s caste-count

“We are thankful to the Chief Minister, who has said that he will take care of the doubts of all political parties on the issue. Though we are in the government, our doubts too will be taken care of,” Mr. Jaiswal, who had raised similar views via social media posts, said.

In one of his posts, Mr. Jaiswal said: “The caste count will have to ensure that the list does not fudge the real status of castes and communities. As per government figures, there are 3,747 castes in India while the Centre itself said in its affidavit that about 4.30 lakh caste names emerged during the survey in 2011. This should not happen in Bihar and it will require utmost caution.”

Union Minister and firebrand brand BJP MP from Begusarai, Giriraj Singh, echoed a similar demand. “I’m in support of caste based survey but Muslims should also be considered as a caste and their head count also should take place. Whether it is Rohingyas or Bangladeshi Muslims who are staying illegally in Bihar, they should be kept out of this caste-based count. I believe the time has come to revisit the definition of minorities in the country. The word minorities should be removed from everywhere,” Mr. Singh said.