"BJP Not Against Caste Census": Sushil Modi Ahead Of Nitish Kumar-PM Meet

BJP leader Sushil Modi's tweets on caste-based census came ahead of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's meeting with PM Modi.

A day before a Nitish Kumar-led Bihar cross-party delegation's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask for a caste-based census, BJP leader Sushil Modi said in tweets that his party is not averse to such an exercise. "BJP was never against caste-based census, we have also been part of resolutions passed in the legislative assembly and council in its support. The delegation that will meet PM Modi also includes a BJP representative," Sushil Modi wrote in a series of posts on Sunday. He said in 2011, the BJP's Gopinath Munde had spoken in favour of a caste-based count in parliament. "When the then government conducted a social, economic and caste-based assessment, there were shortcomings in data. The number of communities ran into lakhs. That report was not made public because of the errors. It was not part of the Census," Mr Modi said. According to the former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister, the last time a caste-based count took place was in 1931, under British rule, when Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha were one entity.