Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government’s push for caste enumeration was considered a masterstroke to puncture the opposition INDIA bloc’s core election plank ahead of assembly elections in Bihar.

However, it seems that the issue will continue to haunt the BJP-led NDA as the opposition alliance has bounced back questioning PM Modi’s apparent U-turn and raising doubts over his intention.

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They pointed out that not only the BJP, its ideological mentor the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was also against using the caste census as a political tool.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is at the forefront, recently told the audience in Nalanda, Bihar, that the Modi government will never conduct a genuine caste census because, once they do, their politics will come to an end.

Echoing his sentiment, RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha told media persons in Patna on Monday that the government’s intention is to suppress caste data and mislead the backward classes. He also said that the government’s policies are not just anti-reservation, but are motivated by political opportunism.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav also wrote a letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanding him to make a recommendation to the Central Government to include the 65% reservation limit, increased by the Grand Alliance government, in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution.

On Monday, the RJD leader raised the issue again through a post on the social media platform ‘X’ alleging that either the Chief Minister does not have any answer to the issues he had raised through the letter or he is deliberately avoiding giving a reply.

He also attacked NDA leaders Chirag Paswan, Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha for “remaining silent over the usurpation of the rights of Dalits, tribals, backward and extremely backward classes on reservation.”

He said: “Why are these leaders beating the drum of social justice if they cannot get the 65% reservation limit, increased by our government, included in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution? If all these people cannot get even this small demand fulfilled from the Prime Minister, then their politics and being in such an alliance is a shame.”