Will catch RSS-BJP by ear to get caste census done: Lalu Prasad
Patna, Sep 5: RJD president Lalu Prasad on Thursday vowed to ensure that a caste census is conducted, saying he will "catch the RSS-BJP by the ear" to make it happen.
The former Bihar chief minister made the remark at a function organised by his party to mark the birth anniversary of OBC stalwart Babu Jagdeo Prasad, whose aggressive style of political mobilisation had earned him the epithet "Lenin of Bihar".
"I will catch the RSS-BJP by the ear and make them get caste census done", said Prasad, evoking applause and laughter from the crowds.
The ailing septuagenarian, who nowadays rarely turns up at public functions, spoke for less than five minutes and in a weak voice though he remained the cynosure of all eyes at the RJD office which was choc-a-bloc with workers and supporters.
Earlier, his younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav gave a detailed speech in which the RJD's track record in safeguarding the interests of the backward classes were highlighted.
Yadav pointed out that his father, as the then Bihar CM, had ensured full implementation of Mandal Commission in the state while he, as the then deputy CM, played a key role in ensuring that a caste-based survey took place and quotas for deprived castes were raised as per the revised population estimates.
He also squarely blamed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who realigned with BJP-led NDA earlier this year, for the state's new reservation laws getting struck down by the Patna High Court.
"I had been saying since day one that we must get the laws included in ninth schedule of the Constitution. But Nitish Kumar failed to act in time. Even today, he is unable to leverage his position as the head of JD(U), on which the BJP is dependent for survival in power at the Centre".
Yadav also took a swipe at Kumar over his troubled equations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying "the CM is now falling at the feet of the same man whose dinner plate he had snatched away".
The allusion was to the infamous cancellation of a dinner party Kumar had thrown for BJP leaders, including Modi, then his Gujarat counterpart, over a decade ago, and a recent video clip in which the Bihar CM appeared to be touching the feet of the PM.
The RJD leader also credited his party, which has four MPs in Lok Sabha and about as many in Rajya Sabha, for the Centre's withdrawal of lateral entry in bureaucracy which he saw as "an indirect attempt to do away with reservations".
Yadav, who has been trying to win over social groups other than the RJD's core base of Muslims and Yadavs, also pointed out that his party gave the highest number of tickets to Kushwahas, who revered Babu Jagdeo Prasad.
"I hereby demand Bharat Ratna for Babu Jagdeo Prasad", said Yadav, adding "let all backward classes come together and not get swayed by BJP's divisive tactics. I promise that we will continue to give Kushwahas their due in the assembly polls due next year".
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
