Voice Of India (Binaya Kumar Das):- Home Minister Amit Shah criticized the Bihar Grand Alliance government for allegedly manipulating the caste survey and downplaying the numbers of Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs) as part of a “politics of appeasement.”
He accused the government of inflating the numbers of Yadavs and Muslims under political pressure while undercounting others, resulting in an injustice to EBCs. The BJP had initially supported the survey, but Shah labeled it as fraudulent. The dispute arises as the Bihar assembly convenes early, possibly to discuss raising the 50% quota cap for OBCs. JD(U) countered Shah’s claims, highlighting the government’s role in rejecting the census motion twice. On the other hand JD(U) President Rajiv Ranjan Singh criticized Amit Shah’s stance, highlighting that the Bihar Vidhan Mandal twice rejected conducting a caste census. He called for a nationwide caste census to address the discrepancies.
