"Survey done to create tension in state": Bihar LoP on caste census

Patna (Bihar) [India], October 2 : Bihar Leader of Opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha on Monday hit out at the Bihar government over the caste-based survey report and said that the survey has been done to create tension in the state.
The Bihar government released caste survey data, with the figures that have ramifications for the Lok Sabha polls next year, showing that Other Backward Caste (OBC) and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) together account for 63 per cent of the state’s population.
Reacting to the survey report, Sinha said that there is nothing new in the report; whatever was estimated is the same.
"The complete report of the caste-based census will come after the analysis. They have not done anything new. The assumptions that were already there, are in the report. They presented it as a miracle or a big change. Everybody already knows what you are saying. Everybody knows the figures," Sinha told ANI.
"When the areawise data for OBC and extremely Backward class will come, then we will know the truth of the survey. This is for creating tension in Bihar. They don't have the mentality for the future, social harmony or development," he added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition bloc INDIA have engaged in a war of words after the release of the Bihar caste survey by the state government on Monday, revealing that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constitute more than 63 per cent of the population of Bihar.
With the parties of the INDIA bloc welcoming the report on caste in Bihar, the chorus for nationwide caste-based data has grown.
JDU leader and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his ally and RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav termed the publication of the report "historic", while the BJP and other prominent parties of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) criticised the Bihar government calling the report an “eye wash”.
Kumar said the publication of the report has coincided with Gandhi Jayanti and congratulated the survey team for its work.
He said a meeting of the nine political parties in the Bihar Assembly, who had unanimously voted in support of the survey, will be called soon, and they will be informed about its findings.
"The caste survey has also provided information about the economic condition of various castes. Steps will be taken for the development of all communities on the basis of this data," he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
According to the data, Scheduled Castes make up 19.65 per cent and the Scheduled Tribes 1.68 per cent of the population of the state.
The data also said that the Hindus comprise 81.99 per cent of the population, Muslims 17.7 per cent, Christians 0.05 per cent, Sikhs 0.01 per cent, Buddhists 0.08 per cent and other religions 0.12 per cent.
The data said that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, is the largest and accounts for 14.27 per cent of the state’s population.
Kushwaha and Kurmi communities form 4.27 per cent and 2.87 per cent of the population, the caste survey said.
Bhumihars constitute 2.86 per cent of the population, Brahmins 3.66 per cent, Kurmis 2.87 per cent, and Musahars 3 per cent.
The total population of Bihar is more than 13 crore.