Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Nitish Kumar came out in support of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad on Friday and said that the Centre was deliberately harassing him and others.

He also slammed the central government for not conducting census in the country.

“Aise hi bechare ko tang kar raha hai. Jaan boojhkar tang karta hai. (They are harassing him just like that. They harass him deliberately),” Nitish said when asked about the CBI’s appeal in the Supreme Court to cancel the bail given to Lalu in the fodder scam cases.

“Don’t you see that the people who are at the Centre these days are harassing everyone. Are they leaving anybody? They are tormenting everybody,” he added.

Nitish was talking to reporters on the sidelines of the birth anniversary function of former Bihar chief minister Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal, who headed the commission that prepared a report on the socio-economic condition of the backward castes and steps needed for their uplift and became the basis for the current reservation given to them in educational institutions and employment.

Interacting further on the occasion, the chief minister revealed that the “caste-based survey” was over in the state and the people engaged in it were now compiling the data to be released.

“The survey work is completed. On its basis we will prepare a report on the population of different castes and sub-castes, as well as, their economic condition. The data is being compiled and soon it will be declared,” Nitish said.

The JDU leader, who has been on the forefront of uniting the Opposition to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, attacked the Centre for shelving the decennial census in the country.

“Census used to be conducted in the country every 10 years. It was last done in 2011, but these people (at the Centre) are not doing anything.... They are changing the history of the country,” Nitish said.

The census was postponed for the first time in 2021.

“Census must be conducted in the country. It should never stop because it provides the figures related to population and insights into what steps should be taken for the people, or what benefits should be given to whom. We are doing this in our state and take the welfare measures for everybody as per our capability,” Nitish added.

The chief minister asserted that the caste-based survey in Bihar will prove to be a model one and other states will also wish to conduct it once the data is published and analysed.

Pointing out that Patna High Court ordered in favour of the caste-based survey and the Supreme Court has not stopped it, the chief minister expressed surprise over the survey being challenged in the apex court. “I don’t know what objection anybody can have on the survey. This is useless and meaningless.”