After creating a flutter with the post cautioning people against the idea of “Jitni abadi utna haq” (rights on the basis of population) by Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, now party leader KC Venugopal on Tuesday said that his party has very clear stand over the matter and is in favour of it.
“Our party’s stand is very clear. We are for a caste census. Congress President and Rahul Gandhi have given statements on it,” KC Venugopal said while talking to ANI.
Amid the row over issue, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Tuesday said that the idea of ‘the greater the population, the greater the rights’ will eventually push the country towards ‘majoritarianism’.
In an earlier post on social media platform X, which has since been deleted, Singhvi said the idea of ‘the greater the population, the greater the rights’ will eventually push the country towards ‘majoritarianism’.
Later, clarifying his post, Singhvi claimed that he did not depart from his party’s position on population-based rights.
“I didn’t take a different stand. We have supported it (Jitni abadi utna haq) and will continue to support it. All court orders have uniformly stated that a decision has to be taken on the basis of facts. How can a decision be arrived at without facts? So, for facts, it is essential for a (national) caste census to take place,” Singhvi told ANI.
After the Bihar state government released the data from its caste-based survey, Rahul Gandhi once again gave the call for population-based rights.
Rahul Gandhi endorsed the slogan of ‘Jitni abadi utna Haq’ saying that that this was a pledge of the Congress.
“The caste census of Bihar has revealed that OBC SC ST are 84% there. Out of 90 secretaries of the Central Government, only 3 are OBC, who handle only 5% of India’s budget! Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India. ‘Jitni Abadi Utna Haq’ – this is our pledge,” Rahul posted on ‘X’ on Monday.
The caste survey data, which could have ramifications for the Lok Sabha polls next year, showed that Other Backward Caste (OBC) and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) together account for 63 per cent of the state’s population.