Headlines
RJD calls Bihar shutdown on July 27 over caste census
Patna, July 14
A day after leading a protest
march through the state capital, RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday called
for a Bihar bandh (shutdown) on July 27 to protest the withholding of
caste-based census data by the central government.
Lalu Prasad
said he would also stage a daylong fast on July 26 to put pressure on
the Centre and threatened to call for an indefinite shutdown in the
state if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government failed
to make public the caste-based census data.
"I and my party will
not sit silently; we have to mobilise people against the withholding of
the caste-based census data by the Centre," the former Bihar chief
minister told media here.
Lalu Prasad on Monday exhorted the
people belonging to 'Mandal' (the backward classes) to rise and uproot
the 'kamandal' (anti-backward classes BJP).
He said such a step
was required because "the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central
government is anti-poor, anti-backward classes and anti-dDalits".
Lalu
Prasad also appealed to all Dalits, other backward classes and Muslims
to unite against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
The
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief threatened to launch a bigger movement than
the Mandal movement of the 1990s if the Modi government failed to make
public the caste-based census data without further delay.