Expressing happiness over the release of caste census report by Bihar government on Gandhi Jayanti, Samajwadi Party along with NDA allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) have reiterated their demand for the caste census at the national level.

SP President and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that the caste figures will open the way for the future for PDAs.

Yadav in a post on social media wrote: “Bihar caste based census published. This is the mathematical basis of social justice.”

He further said: “Caste census will not open a new path of 85-15 conflict but of cooperation and those who are not domineering but are supporters of everyone’s rights and they will also support and welcome it.”

“Those who really want to get the rights, they get the caste census done. The BJP government should leave politics and conduct a nationwide caste census,” he said.

The SP President made it clear that when the people come to know their number, then a self-confidence generates among them along with social consciousness against injustice.

Reacting to the caste-based survey report of Bihar, Union Minister Anupriya Patel said: “I don’t want to talk about Bihar. Apna Dal has always advocated for caste-based census. In Parliament, we have kept a clear position that we are in support of caste-based census.”

On the other hand, the SBSP led by Om Prakash Rajbhar has welcomed the caste census report of Bihar and said that their party had repeatedly demanded a caste census across the country.

The party’s spokesperson Arun Rajbhar said that the SBSP had always advocated for caste census for the upliftment of the backwards.

However, he maintained that the base of the caste survey in Bihar was laid during the BJP-JDU government and now the report had been announced.

As per the report, the population of general category people in Bihar is 15 per cent, which is slightly higher than the population of Yadavs, accounting for over 14 per cent of the state’s total population.

Bihar Chief Secretary Aamir Subhani released the caste census report in Patna on Monday. The population of the backward castes is more than 27 per cent, while that of extremely backward castes has been pegged at over 36 per cent. The population of Scheduled Castes is about 20 per cent.