Pitching for a comprehensive classification of caste data before its release, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday said 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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 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.