Patna Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, the leader of the Janata Dal (United), criticized Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) head Lalu Yadav on Thursday over the caste census problem, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar head Minister Nitish Kumar should be given the credit for the decision.

This comes after Lalu Yadav wrote on X that the United Front government in Delhi, when he was the National President of the Janata Dal, had decided in 1996-97 to carry out a caste census for the 2001 Census. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government later chose not to carry out this decision.

A number of opposition parties, including as the Congress and Samajwadi Party, are claiming to be the main forces behind the NDA government’s decision to conduct the caste census in addition to the general census as the controversy over the census heats up.

“They are talking about 1996-97,” Rajiv Ranjan Prasad told IANS. They should also keep in mind Nitish Kumar’s 1994 address in Parliament, in which he fervently supported our cause. His lecture was lengthy, in-depth, and thought-provoking.

“The Bihar Legislative Assembly later approved a unanimous resolution on this topic in 2020, when we were a member of the NDA administration, led by Nitish Kumar. The NDA was in power at the time. Some individuals can’t start taking credit right away just because they don’t speak out.

Prime Minister Modi embraced the Bihar model, which was Nitish Kumar’s idea. Therefore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar deserve the most credit for this decision,” he said.

Rajiv Ranjan Prasad also addressed Lalu Yadav’s claim that they were accused of caste-based politics when they attempted to carry out a caste census.

“From 1990 until 2005, he served as a minister at the Center during the caste surveys. They might have done it back when it was their government. Nobody would believe it—they speak a lot while they are in opposition, but they accomplish nothing when they are in power,” he said.

Despite the BJP’s long-standing opposition, the Prime Minister Modi-led Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) unexpectedly endorsed the caste enumeration in the 2018 Census on April 30.

After been postponed since 2021 because of the COVID-19 epidemic, the pan-India census is again scheduled to take place.