Political parties in Jharkhand have joined the chorus for caste based census in Jharkhand as well as an increase of reservation for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in jobs and educational courses.
The Bihar unit of the JD (U) that has exerted pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for caste based census tried to polarize public and political opinion for this demand in Jharkhand as well.
Sharavan Kumar, the state coordinator of JD (U) in Jharkhand addressed a press conference on Thursday and said the central government must consider this demand.
The JD (U) leader appealed to political parties to join hands together and pass a resolution in the Jharkhand assembly to pressurize the centre to conduct the caste based survey.
On Tuesday, the Ajsu party chief and MLA Sudesh Mahto had shot a letter to the Prime minister to conduct a caste-based census in 2021. He argued that the census is necessary to know the current social condition of different caste which will ultimately help the government to chalk-out programmes for the overall uplift of society. Notably, the Ajsu is the part of the NDA led alliance.
While the JMM, the big brother of the ruling UPA alliance in Jharkhand has yet to officially make any statement but the Congress which is part of the JMM led alliance has now started speaking on this issue. The Congress has demanded chief minister Hemant Soren to conduct an independent caste census in Jharkhand as the central government has refused the same.
The RJD which is part of the UPA alliance too has supported the caste based census. The party has advised the Soren government to table a bill regarding caste census before the house during the monsoon session of the assembly. Former MLA Radhakrishna Kishore said that census is required since due to absence of the correct data the government fails to formulate any plan for the development of OBC.