Kolkata

The Trinamool Congress, has maintained a staunch silence over the release of the caste census by the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government recently.

The silence of West Bengal’s ruling party in this matter, despite the other constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc like the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) welcoming the move, has kept political observers wondering about the Trinamool Congress tackling the caste census issue.

Not a single Trinamool Congress leader was willing to come ahead to give a reaction in the matter unless the chief minister Mamata Banerjee or the party’s national general Abhishek Banerjee outline any specific instruction or guideline on the party’s stand in the matter.

 Only the chief minister or the national general secretary will decide and comment on this matter and till that time none of us are supposed to comment on the issue. However, as hinted at by the chief minister she is having some objections to the caste census over apprehensions that it might lead to demands of self-governance in certain areas and hence lead to divisions among the people, said a member of the state cabinet on condition of anonymity.

However, he admitted that the general perception within the Trinamool Congress is that while the caste census might work for parties having a strong base in the cow- belt where caste-based politics is predominant, the same might not work in favour of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, where caste-based politics is virtually non-existent.