New Delhi | The Janata Dal (United) Friday unanimously passed a resolution lauding Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's leadership for the "historic" caste survey completed in the state which has brought to the centre stage the demand for such an exercise nationwide and ushered in a socio-economic revolution.
Briefing reporters on a separate resolution passed on this issue at the JD(U)'s national council, its chief spokesperson KC Tyagi said caste census is an issue that resonated with the people of India and even the BJP and Congress cannot ignore it anymore.
After the party's national executive and national council meetings here, he said it was unanimously decided that the issue of caste-based census would be taken up at the national level as a part of the opposition INDIA bloc's agenda.
"We will highlight the issue outside Bihar as well," he said, adding that Kumar, who was elected as the JD(U) president in the national executive meeting, will set out for a "Jan Jagran" campaign, starting from Jharkhand.
The party, in its resolution, congratulated Kumar for the socio-economic caste survey conducted in Bihar and said the "historic initiative" was being welcomed in unison throughout the country.
"Many states have announced plans to conduct caste-based census. There is a demand across the country to conduct such a census on the lines of Bihar. This has led to a silent revolution towards social and economic change," the resolution stated.
Tyagi said all social groups, including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Extremely Backward Classes, Backward Classes, minorities and economically weaker upper castes, will benefit from the caste-based census.
"Under this new reservation system, the quota limit for Scheduled Castes has increased from 18 per cent to 20 per cent, for Scheduled Tribes from one to two per cent, for Extremely Backward Class it has increased from 18 to 25 per cent, for Backward Classes it has increased from 12 to 15 per cent.
"With this, after including the 10 per cent reservation for the economically poor upper castes, the reservation limit has now become 75 per cent," the resolution stated.
It said the Bihar government has demanded that the Centre include this new reservation system implemented in the state in the Ninth Schedule of Article 31 (B) of the Constitution.
"This meeting of the National Executive and National Council of Janata Dal (U) supports this demand so that it can get judicial review and protection," the resolution said.
It also mentioned the state's demand for a "special status".
"By opening a thoughtful and inclusive door of caste-based enumeration, Bihar has tried to move forward with balance in the direction of development. If Bihar gets the status of a special state, it will very soon join the ranks of developed states," the JD(U) said in the resolution.
Interacting with reporters, Tyagi said, "I was in the Parliament when VP Singh ji made the proposal for reservation (for backward classes). The speeches of LK Advani and Rajiv Gandhi are available, how they had rejected caste based Mandal. One went out with 'Kamandal', the other made the government fall."
It is the "historic compulsion" of both Congress and BJP that they have to go by the agenda set by socialists such as V P Singh and Karpuri Thakur. There are three cabinet ministers -- Ramdas Athawale, Anupriya Patel, and Pashupati Nath Paras -- who are demanding caste census, "this is a victory of our ideology", he said.
"We will ensure caste census is the main issue of the INDIA bloc, and it is done after we come to power," Tyagi added.
