Bihar government tells Supreme Court it supports caste survey: Report

The Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party government in Bihar has told the Supreme Court that it supports the caste survey conducted in the state, reported Hindustan Times on Tuesday.

“The caste survey was carried out under the constitutional mandates and aimed to achieve equality enshrined under the Constitution,” the state government told the court in an affidavit on Monday. “The state had declared its aim and object for the survey and has now taken steps to achieve the same on the basis of facts appearing in the survey report.”

The caste survey in Bihar was initiated in January 2022 when the Mahagathbandhan coalition, comprising Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress were in power in the state.

Kumar has since quit the Mahagathbandhan coalition. On January 28, he took oath as Bihar’s chief minister once again, for the ninth time, with the support of the BJP.

After Kumar’s defection to the Hindutva party, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Bihar chief minister was feeling “trapped” after the completion of the caste survey, which was done under pressure from his Mahagathbandhan partners, and that the BJP had “provided him with a way out” of his predicament.

In its affidavit to the top court, Kumar’s government said...

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