Union minister Chirag Paswan sides with Opposition parties again, this time on nationwide caste census demand

'My party has always maintained its stance that it is in favor of a caste census. This will allow state and central governments to design schemes keeping in mind the caste equations so that they help integrate backward communities into the mainstream,' Paswan said.

New Delhi: Union minister Chirag Paswan on Sunday once again echoed a demand of the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc when he said that his party supported a nationwide caste census. He said that such a move will equip the government in creating schemes in a manner in which the benefits reach the marginalised sections.

He said that as one of the allies of the NDA government, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas faction), supports the demand for a caste census. “My party has always maintained its stance that it is in favor of a caste census. This will allow state and central governments to design schemes keeping in mind the caste equations so that they help integrate backward communities into the mainstream,” he said. It must be added that Paswan had earlier supported the caste census and made his support public.

On Sunday, in a key meet of his party in Ranchi, Paswan was chosen unequivocally as the president of his party for the next five years. “We will continue to strengthen our party, and keeping that in mind, we will be contesting the Jharkhand elections in the coming months,” he said.

Paswan was elected the president of his party in 2019, when his father Ram Vilas Paswan was around. He said that if the party is strong in some states, they may contest alone outside of the NDA umbrella.

“We contested the Nagaland election alone and won two seats, we also have two councillors in the state. We have an alliance with the BJP nationally. We contested the Assembly election alongside BJP in Jharkhand in 2024 and contested from the lone seat, Sikaripara. This time, the state unit will take a final call on whether we should contest under an alliance or independently,” he added.