PATNA: Reacting over the Patna High Court’s judgement dismissing the petitions challenging the Bihar Government’s caste-based survey, Janata Dal-United (JDU) President Lalan Singh on Tuesday said that the conspiracy of the Bharatiya Janata Party failed.
Speaking to ANI, Singh said, “The BJP is in the habit of playing through the back door. In the last hearing of the High Court, the state government kept its viewpoint and proved that it has the right to conduct a caste survey in the state because we are the policymakers. The High Court dismissed the plea and the conspiracy of the BJP failed”.
Notably, the Patna High Court on Tuesday dismissed all petitions challenging the state government’s conduct of a caste survey in Bihar. The caste survey in Bihar is slated to be carried out in two phases.
“The Bihar government had decided to conduct a cast census. We also wanted to conduct a census for the financially backward classes. At first, we had proposed to the central government to conduct the cast census throughout the country because the same was conducted back in 1931. However, the central government did not accept our proposal”, added the JDU president.
Further, the JDU President said, “When the centre rejected this, the state government decided to conduct a caste survey. The High Court order is not a question of victory or defeat. We wanted to conduct this for the welfare of people”.
Speaking on the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, that was introduced in the Lok Sabha earlier today, JDU president Singh said, “The ordinance is an outcome of the centre’s desperation. The country has a federal structure. They (the central government) want to destroy the federal structure and impose their own. When a constitution bench of the apex court delivered its decision on the services (of Group-A officers in Delhi), what is the point in bringing the ordinance?”
“Now, when they (BJP) lost the MCD elections, they wanted to rule through the ‘back door’. It clearly shows that they want to demolish democracy. They just want to get their names inked in the history”, added Singh.
Significantly, the bill to replace the ordinance for control of services in Delhi was introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai introduced the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023. Opposition members including Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, NK Premachandran and Shashi Tharoor opposed the introduction of the bill.
However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Constitution has given the power to the Lok Sabha to pass any law regarding the state of Delhi.
Furthermore, talking about the Manipur ethnic conflict, JDU president Lalan Singh said, “We have been demanding since the beginning that the Prime Minister, who is the leader of the lower house, come to the parliament. The Prime Minister is delivering speeches in the American parliament, but he is not coming to that of this own country”.
North-eastern state Manipur has witnessed violence since May 3 following the HC’s order asking the state government to consider the inclusion of the Meitei community under the category of Scheduled Tribes (STs). (ANI)