Summary:
Patna, Aug 24 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has listened “attentively” and “intently” to submissions of an all-party delegation from Bihar which met him on the issue of caste census and a positive outcome was expected, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said here on Tuesday.
Kumar, who had on the previous day led the 11-member delegation comprising a legislator each from 10 parties, was replying to queries from journalists at the airport upon his return from the national capital.
“He listened attentively (dhyaan se)....intently (prem se)...
so it is natural that we would expect some positive outcome”, said the chief minister with a smile The Centre’s recent statement before Parliament that enumeration of only the SCs and the STs was proposed has triggered vociferous demands for including the OBCs, especially in states like Bihar where the numerically powerful intermediary castes wield tremendous political clout.
The Bihar chief minister underscored that the last time a caste census was held way back in 1931, under the British Raj.
Fresh census could not be held a decade later because of the Second World War.