A difference of opinion has arisen within the Congress over Rahul Gandhi’s support for a caste census, in line with his motto “Jitni aabadi, utna haq,” (rights proportionate to the population).
The party’s national spokesperson and a member of the Rajya Sabha, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, initially opposed the Congress’ stance on caste census, especially Rahul’s position. Later, he deleted his social media post under “party pressure” and issued a statement justifying his party’s position.
Congress chief spokesperson Jairam Ramesh issued a rebuttal on social media platforms in response to Singhvi’s post. He said the Congress firmly supports its Raipur declaration and emphasised that Singhvi’s views on caste census were his personal opinions and did not represent the official stance of the Congress or for that matter INDIA bloc.
Singhvi created a flutter by saying “it will eventually culminate into majoritarianism”, a remark he later retracted from social media, attributing it to an error made by his staff.
Singhvi also later said he supports caste census on the basis of which rights would be determined proportionately.
As the findings of the Bihar caste census were released on Monday, Rahul batted for a national caste census with a pitch for “Jitni abaadi, utna haq”.
Asked about Singhvi’s views, AICC OBC department head Ajay Yadav said, “What Singhvi has said is not the party line. I will not answer to someone who says something different from the party line. Our line is that the poor, deprived and Bahujan Samaj should be given economic and social benefits.”
Rahul said the caste census of Bihar has proved that 84 per cent of people in the State are OBCs, SCs and STs and their rights should be according to their population.
The Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar of which the Congress is a stakeholder has released findings of a caste survey which revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the State’s total population.
“Equality of opportunity is never the same as equality of outcomes. People endorsing #jitniabadiutnahaq have to first completely understand the consequences of it. It will eventually culminate into majoritarianism,” Singhvi earlier said on X.
“Careless forward by a staff which was deleted with a slight time lag when I came out of a felicitation function in the Supreme Court and saw it and thereafter deleted immediately,” Singhvi said and told media that he stands with the party’s view that there should be a caste census across the country and said he was not at variance with the party’s view.
“Dr Singhvi’s tweet may be a reflection of his own personal view but in no way does it reflect the position of the Indian National Congress - the essence of which is contained both in the Raipur Declaration on February, 26, 2023 and in the CWC Resolution of September 16, 2023,” the Congress said in a statement.
