Key Nitish aide slams Shah for calling caste survey "manipulated"

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Monday, 6 November, took strong exception to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's allegation that the caste survey had been manipulated to show "inflated" numbers of Yadavs and Muslims.

Parliamentary Affairs minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary told reporters that Shah's speech at a BJP rally in Muzaffarpur a day ago was bereft of logic and unbecoming of a person holding a responsible post.

"Yadavs are an OBC group, which is a fact known to all. Yet, the home minister claimed that their numbers had been inflated to deny other OBCs of their due. The argument simply does not add up,” Chaudhary asserted.

"Shah should also have disclosed what was the basis of his claim. If he feels the figures of caste survey are inaccurate, then he must be having an idea of what could be the accurate numbers. How did he arrive at such an estimate?" he said.

Mocking Shah's averment that the BJP had "supported" the decision to hold a caste survey, Chaudhary, who is a senior JD(U) leader, said “they cannot make up their mind”.

“If their contention is that there has been forgery ('pharjiwada') in compilation of data, then are they admitting that they were a party to the fraud?" he said.

Chaudhary also pointed out that the state government took the decision to hold the survey only after the Centre made clear its reluctance for a caste census.

"They (BJP) like to boast they are above casteism. But yesterday, the home minister made an appalling attempt to gain political mileage out of social divisions by explicitly naming communities,” alleged Chaudhary, one of the trusted aides of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The minister was talking to reporters outside the state assembly, after the House was adjourned, on the first day of the winter session, following obituary references.