Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday (October 2, 2025) recalled the day of October 2, 2023, when the Bihar government had released the data of the caste-based survey, and Mr. Yadav’s RJD was part of the Nitish Kumar government.
Giving credit to his party, Mr. Yadav in a message on social media account ‘X’ asserted that his fight for the backward, deprived, Dalits, oppressed, and poor will continue and will not stop until their share is ensured in proportion to their population.
“We remember that historic day of October 2, 2023 when, as the Deputy Chief Minister of the State’s largest party, we fulfilled our decades-old resolve for a caste-based census by conducting a caste survey in Bihar and making the report public,” Mr. Yadav said.
He pointed out that on the same day after publishing the report of the survey, the RJD had declared that there should be a caste census in the country. Mr. Yadav added that this forced the stubborn government to later follow what he had declared.
He said that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) used to point out flaws in the caste-based survey and issued statements against it.
Mr. Yadav claimed that due to the social and political pressure built by the RJD, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was compelled to announce a caste-based census across the country.
On April 30, the Modi government announced the addition of a caste census in the forthcoming population survey which is set to begin March 2027.
Despite the formal announcement by the Centre, Mr. Yadav raised questions saying there is doubt about their intentions and implementation. He termed BJP anti-Dalit and anti-backward.
“BJP that steals reservation did not include the 65% reservation, increased as per our report, in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution, and robbed the rights of Dalits, backward classes, extremely backward classes, and tribals,” Mr. Yadav said.
Following the caste-based survey report; the State government had taken the decision to increase the reservation for Backward Classes (BC), Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) from the existing 50% to 65%.
Together with the 10% Economically Backward Class (EWS) quota, the Bill pushed reservation in Bihar to 75%.
However, on June 20, 2024 the Patna High Court set aside the amendments passed by the Bihar legislature to increase the reservation in educational institutions and government jobs. The High Court had said that this was violating the 50% limit set by the Supreme Court.
Criticising the NDA government, Mr. Yadav further alleged that the double-engine government has stabbed these communities in the chest and due to their anti-reservation move these communities are suffering the loss of lakhs of jobs.
“Until the cap of reservation crosses the 50% limit and until the backward, Dalit, oppressed, deprived, and poor communities become empowered, educated, and achieve economic and social justice, Tejashwi needs the support of all of you,” Mr. Yadav said in the post.
The post also has a 1.54 minutes video created by the IT cell of the RJD in which it has described how he, the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, ensured the enumeration of each caste in Bihar. The video urged the people of Bihar to take a pledge to make Mr. Yadav the Chief Minister of Bihar in the upcoming Assembly election.
Published – October 02, 2025 07:31 pm IST
