Bihar caste census report puts BJP in dilemma

The recently released report of caste census in Bihar has put the BJP in a dilemma with senior party leaders treading cautiously on the issue in view of the forthcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Mizoram and Rajasthan and also next year’s Lok Sabha elections due next year.

That the BJP finds itself in a difficult situation in the wake of the caste census in Bihar was evident when senior party leader in Bihar Samrat Chaudhary said that he would first careful study the report before commenting on the same.

According to the sources in the BJP, the Bihar leaders were waiting for the response from union minister Amit Shah and party’s national president Jagat Prakash Nadda before publicly making comments on it.

Union minister Giriraj Singh, however, did not mince words while commenting on the caste census. ‘’The report is a pack of lies….it is factually not correct…there are thousands of castes in Bihar but the state government has not revealed the entire data…let it come out with the entire facts then we will say anything,’’ Singh said.

The opposition parties, however, find themselves sitting pretty after the caste census report as they feel that it has put the BJP on the defensive. ‘’We will conduct a caste census throughout the country if we come to power after the next Lok Sabha polls in 2024,’’ said a senior opposition leader in Bihar.

BJP also feels that the caste census report of Bihar might be used by the opposition to woo the OBC voters in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Taking note of the report, the BJP has decided to launch an awareness drive among the OBC communities in MP in the next few days.

It will be interesting to see if the caste census report does result in electoral gains for the opposition in the poll bound states.