Upper castes in Bihar being marginalised: Sinha

Patna, Nov 4: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and former Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) president Ramjatan Sinha has alleged that the Bihar government had denied the due place to upper castes, despite their substantial share in the state's population.

Speaking at a seminar organised here under the banner of ''Bihar Rajya Rajnitik Chetna Manch'' yesterday, Mr Sinha said the 25 per cent upper castes, 24 per cent Dalit and 16 per cent minoritis were the major components of the state's population in the state, yet they were living on the threshold and were being marginalised for political gains.

He alleged minorities and Dalits were being used by the politicians as their consolidated vote bank and the political parties were not actually interested in their real empowerment.

''The tendency had only promoted groupism and casteism in the state as RJD Supremo and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have successfully used it to play power games,'' he added.

He also claimed that bhumihars comprised nine per cent of the state population but they were being used as a ''disposable item'' by every political party and their leaders promoted only those members of the community who were ready to serve them as their agents and sycophants.

He also urged the members of the community to introspect and find out what actually went wrong so that they could repair and redress their grievances.

Commenting on the present regime in the state, several speakers at the meet alleged that the Nitish government was promoting red-tapism, criminalisation of police, state and politics, as result of which the insecurity had increased.

Cases of abduction, lynching as well as thrashing scribes had increased manifold in recent times, Mr Sinha alleged.

UNI