Nitish ordered caste survey under Cong-RJD pressure: Rahul in Bihar

PURNIA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was feeling trapped after getting a caste survey conducted under pressure from the Mahagathbandhan partners and the BJP “provided him with a way out”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed on Tuesday.

Gandhi made the remark at a rally in Bihar’s Purnia district, berating the JD(U) president who returned to the BJP-led NDA two days ago, dealing a severe blow to the Opposition bloc INDIA of which he was regarded as one of the architects.

“We do not need Nitish Kumar,” asserted Gandhi, adding that people should keep in mind that he makes a volte-face whenever he faces pressure.

“You (people) need to understand that Nitish Kumar was feeling trapped after the Congress and RJD (Mahagathbandhan’s largest constituent) ensured that a caste survey was held. The BJP provided him with a way out,” he said at a rally as part of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

Gandhi, who addressed his first rally in Bihar since the 2020 Assembly polls campaign, also recounted a joke, now popular on social media, about which he learnt from former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Singh Baghel.

The joke, which was also shared by AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh on X the day before, says Kumar had returned to Raj Bhavan to collect his shawl/muffler after being sworn in for a record ninth time, causing the Governor to wonder if the JD(U) supremo was back to take oath as leader of a different formation.

In his speech which lasted around half an hour, Gandhi said, “Our aim is to ensure justice, both social and economic. For social justice, we call for a caste census which is like the X-ray of the society. Once that is done we can go for an MRI”.

The Congress leader highlighted the fact that OBCs, despite their huge representation, were grossly under-represented in the bureaucracy and corporate houses and “even in the media, they are rarely allowed to rise beyond the position of reporters”.

The former Congress president, who is leading the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ which commenced earlier this month from Manipur, also expressed dismay at the ethnic situation in the north-eastern state, claiming the situation there resembled ‘a civil war’.

Gandhi’s Yatra had entered Bihar on Monday from Kishanganj district and it reached Purnea after a night halt at Araria.

After addressing the rally in Purnia where Gandhi also interacted with local farmers, the entourage left for neighbouring Katihar from where it is scheduled to leave for Malda in West Bengal on Wednesday.