Patna, Aug 27 (IANS): After Union Minister Chirag Paswan expressed support for a caste-based census, Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh commended Paswan's stance and urged him to apply pressure for it within his own government.

Speaking to the media at Patna airport on Tuesday, Singh appreciated Chirag Paswan, who is also the national president of the Lok Janshakti Party Ram Vilas (LJPRV), for backing the caste census.

"I am grateful to Chirag Paswan for his support on the caste-based census. Along with this, I would like to appeal to him to put pressure on the Central government for this, so that a caste census can be conducted in the country,” Singh stated.

Singh stated, “I would like to thank Chirag Paswan for saying the right thing. This is a demand that our leaders have been raising for a long time, and now NDA leaders have also started supporting it. We thank them for it.”

His remarks align with the ongoing demand for a caste-based census, which has been strongly advocated by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the past few months.

The demand for a caste-based census has sparked significant debate across the country, especially as leaders from the NDA challenge Rahul Gandhi to initiate the census in states ruled by the Congress or its allies, such as Karnataka, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh and others.

In response, JD(U) senior leader KC Tyagi also emphasised that Rahul Gandhi should start the caste-based census in Congress-ruled states.

Bihar was the first state to conduct a caste-based survey under the Grand Alliance government with Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister and Tejashwi Yadav as Deputy Chief Minister.