Chirag re-elected LJP (Ram Vilas) chief, pitches for caste census

Ranchi: Union minister Chirag Paswan was on Sunday re-elected as Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president for five years at its national executive meeting here.

The decision was taken unanimously at the meeting, Paswan said.

“The national executive, in its meeting here, has re-elected me for the next five years,” he said.

Paswan, the Minister of Food Processing Industries, said the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana, Jammu Kashmir and Jharkhand were also discussed in the meeting.

In Jharkhand, the party may contest the polls either with national alliance partner BJP or on its own, he said.

“We have taken suggestions from the state units whether they want to contest the elections in alliance or alone in states where our organisation is strong… At the national level, we have an alliance with the BJP and we are a strong coalition partner of the NDA.

“In the 2014 elections, we had a tie-up with the BJP for vidhansabha polls in Jharkhand and contested the Shikaripara seat. If there is a respectable seat-sharing, we may go with an alliance or else we can go alone in the polls,” Paswan said.

Assembly polls are due in Jharkhand later this year.

He also pitched for a nationwide caste census, but cautioned against making the figures public as it will create a “rift” in society.

“We have always emphasised that we want the caste census to be conducted… It will ensure that the government has correct numbers.

However, I do not want the figures of the census to come out in public. That may create a rift,” said the minister, whose late father Ram Vilas Paswan was among the tallest Dalit leaders of the country.

He also said a special resolution was passed at the national executive meeting to extend a motion of thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his welfare initiatives and work towards the SC-ST community.

Commenting on the creamy layer in SC community, he said: “We have been opposed to it since they are not just victims of social and educational backwardness, but even untouchability”.

Paswan said even after so many years of Independence, Dalit grooms are prevented from riding a horse during weddings, and “I even learnt about an IPS officer seeking security for his marriage”.

“Even today we hear that members of the Dalit community cannot enter temples… The observation of the Supreme Court did not have any mention of untouchability. The PM has also said that as per constitutional norms, the provisions for SCs would continue,” he said.

Earlier this month, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud ruled in a 6:1 majority judgement that state governments were permitted to sub-classify communities within the SC list based on empirical data.

Supreme Court judge Justice B R Gavai had said that states must evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer even among the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Schedule Tribes (ST) and deny them the benefit of reservation.