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Upendra Kushwaha, the National President of the Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal, has criticized the caste-based survey report released by the Nitish Kumar government, describing it as "entirely fabricated", adding that his party will raise voice against this fake data.
Kushwaha further said that the caste census has been published with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections next year and announced to stage protests at every district headquarters in the state on October 11. "We will raise our voice against this fake data," he told reporters on Sunday in Patna. He said they have decided to stage a protest on October 11 at every district headquarters in the state and will organise a march outside 'Raj Bhavan' in Patna, on October 14. "We feel that the government released the data in haste keeping in view the upcoming elections...The focus was only on elections, and political gains & not the benefits of the people..." "The data is completely false and fake...", he alleged. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition bloc INDIA engaged in a war of words after the Bihar caste survey was released by the state government, 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. The findings from Bihar, one of the country's politically significant states, have the potential to upend the country's politics, with demands being made for a similar nationwide census. According to the data released on October 2, 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's 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 numbers stand in contrast to the quantum of reservations, which is 27 per cent that the OBC population gets in government jobs and admissions to educational institutions. The total population of Bihar is more than 13 crore. (ANI)
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