Caste based enumeration was Nitish Kumar’s dream project, Bihar’s politics heats up due to court ban

The Patna High Court has put a stay on the ongoing caste census in Bihar. The court has clearly said that it is the job of the central government to conduct the census, not the state government. In such a situation, doesn’t the question arise that till now the Bihar government was misusing time, labor and resources in the name of caste census? Does the government not consult the law experts of the state before taking any decision? Had the Bihar government really done this, the time, labor and resources would not have been misused. This is not the first time that the High Court has stayed the decision of the state government. Even before this, many such cases have come to the fore. There was bickering during the civic body elections as well. The State Election Commission issued the notification of the election. The candidates who were already beating the ground got their nominations done in a jiffy and the campaign started in full swing. There were only two days left in the election that the High Court stayed the election. Here also there was a lot of misuse of time, labor and resources. Since the High Court stayed the elections, the nominations of the candidates were automatically cancelled. The ground beneath the feet of the candidates who shed money like water in the elections slipped away. Municipal elections are yet to be held in some places in Bihar. The matter is entangled in the court.

I think that if the government had taken the help of legal experts in this matter, then this trouble would not have happened. This calculation is considered important not only for Bihar but also for the politics of Bihar. This is such an important issue that when this bill was introduced in the assembly, it was unanimously supported. All the leaders of the party and the opposition welcomed it wholeheartedly. However, in this matter, there was a contradiction between the views of the BJP’s central leadership and the state leadership. On the one hand, the BJP government at the Center gave an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the Center would not conduct caste-based census, while on the other hand, the BJP in Bihar kept on joining the voices of the opposition leaders in favor of the caste census. Bihar BJP is still in support of caste enumeration and has accused the Bihar government of not presenting its case properly in the High Court. However, other parties have also tried to label the government as a failure. All the parties are cherishing the dream of baking their bread in the light of the figures obtained from caste census. Time will tell how much these figures will benefit the exploited and deprived of the society, but it is certain that in the coming days, forward-backward politics will gain momentum in Bihar. Mandal-Kamandal will also be stung.

However, the final decision has not yet come on this. This is called an interim stay. The next hearing will be on July 3. Now it will be interesting to see what is the reaction of the High Court in this matter on July 3. But the response given by the High Court while giving an interim stay on caste enumeration on May 4 was very serious. The High Court said that prima facie we are of the opinion that the State has no power to conduct caste based survey. The way it is being done is similar to a census. To do so would encroach upon the legislative power of the Union. During the caste-based enumeration, the Bihar government cleverly tried to find a middle ground. The government did not call it caste census, but it was named caste-based census. Told the court that this is a caste based survey. People understood only what the government wanted to explain. This cleverness of the government was caught in the High Court. While hearing petitions filed by various organizations and some individuals, the High Court has clearly stated that the state cannot attempt to conduct a caste census in the garb of a survey. Especially when the State has absolutely no legislative competence and in that case neither an executive order under Article 162 of the Constitution of India can be maintainable. In its important observation, the High Court has also clearly delineated the difference between survey and census. The High Court has observed that the census envisages the collection of accurate facts and verifiable details. Whereas the objective of the survey is to collect and analyze the opinion and perceptions of the general public. Surveys mostly have logical conclusions. The present exercise is being seen by the state as an attempt to conduct census only in the name of survey.

Reacting to the matter, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar termed the decision as unfortunate. He has said that it was unanimously passed by the House. In this, along with the count of everyone, the economic condition is also to be ascertained, be it of any caste or any community. He has said that we are doing this work in the interest of all. Don’t know why there is opposition to this. This shows that people do not understand basic things.

On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav is irritated with BJP in this matter and is still hopeful. They say that sooner or later caste enumeration will definitely happen. On the other hand, BJP state president Samrat Chaudhary has raised questions on the intention of the government in this matter. He has said that the state government did not want caste-based enumeration to be done at all. Because of which this was done intentionally. The government did not properly present its side in the court. On the other hand, other parties including Congress and Male have also advised the government to present its stand firmly in the court. The meaning is clear that except JDU and RJD, all the parties believe that the government did not present its stand properly in the court. But doesn’t the question arise in such a situation that if this calculation was so important then why didn’t those people cooperate with the government in this matter? Were they waiting for this day that the government would be embarrassed in the court and they could take a pinch?

At the moment, the question is also that if it is finally stopped, then who will take responsibility for the time, labor and resources that have been misused in this matter so far? The reins of power in Bihar have been in the hands of those people for a long time, who had made their political face shine by holding the hem of socialism. Be it Lalu or Nitish, everyone’s identity is related to socialism, but what is the status of socialism in their respective parties, it is not hidden from anyone. In fact, their parties are no longer dominated by socialism, but by feudalism. If they had socialism, today the reins of RJD would not have been in the hands of Tejashwi. Lalu, who talked about my reconciliation, would have brought out such a face from his party who could replace him, but Lalu, who talked about socialism, also got trapped in son-infatuation and unlike socialism, he promoted dynasty in the party. Same is the condition of other regional parties of Bihar. There is no dynasty in JDU but this party is also becoming a person centric party. If these faces doing the politics of the backward had really worked for the development of the backward, then today there would have been a qualitative change in the condition of the backward. Then perhaps there would not be a need to get caste-based census done today. Yes, they definitely succeeded in making the backward people a vote bank. For now we have to wait for July 3. Whatever the decision of the High Court will be in this matter, it will be in the interest of Bihar.

-Sachchidananda Satchu