GoM yet to meet, Yadav troika threatens strike

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The group of ministers (GoM) on caste-based census headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has not met even for once to deliberate on the issue. Sensing this as a delaying tactic, the Yadav troika — Mulayam, Lalu and Sharad — is once again re-grouping and has threatened to launch a nationwide agitation ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament scheduled to begin in the third week of July.

Taking a more aggressive posture than the other two supporters of the move, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has flagged off the protest by claiming that it will force adjournments in Parliament during the Monsoon Session and will launch a nationwide agitation if the government failed to budge on their demand before the session begins.
Since the census exercise is already on, the party had expected that a decision on the matter would be taken soon, as promised by the Prime Minister on the floor of the Lok Sabha. “We will not allow the House to function and launch an agitation if the government does not take an early decision for caste-based census,” senior SP leader and chief whip of the party Shailender Kumar said.
JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, while contending that the move to refer the issue to a GoM was nothing but a delaying tactic, said that this is why the ministerial panel has not met yet even for once.
But this does not mean that the government be allowed to put the matter in cold storage permanently, he claimed.
Appearing more optimistic than the other two Yadavs, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav claimed that the government’s decision to form the GoM is not a “delaying tactic” and expressed the confidence that the enumeration of caste in the census would begin from February 2011. “Inclusion of caste in census has to happen. It will happen. How can you not do it? We will get it done. After all, this is a commitment made by Prime Minister to Parliament and the nation,” Mr Yadav said.
Since the issue was collectively raised by SP chief, RJD supremo and JD(U) president during the fag end of the Budget Session in May, the government calmed them by promising that a decision of the subject will “shortly” be taken.