Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELH, Oct 3: A day after the Bihar unit of the BJP stood with the ruling Mahagathbandhan alliance in claiming credit Congress over its nationwide caste census pitch and accused the party of trying to divide Hindus, and sought to know if it wants to curtail the rights of Muslims by advocating a population-based distribution of resources.
PM Modi said that for him, the poor form the biggest chunk of the country’s population and they should have the first right over resources, irrespective of their caste or community. He also accused the Congress of dividing the society on caste lines for votes for the caste-based survey, the party president Samrat Choudhary took a U-turn on Tuesday questioning its authenticity after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi hammered the opposition accusing it of trying to divide the country on caste lines.
As Modi kept the heat on the caste-based survey asking the Congress if it wanted to curtail the rights of Muslims by advocating a population-based distribution of resources as promised by Rahul Gandhi of holding a caste-based survey if the INDIA bloc was voted to power, Samrat Choudhary said “The caste survey has been carried out under pressure from Lalu ji….Nitish Kumar government must explain why it showed caste equation but not financial status.”
After the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar released the results of the caste-based survey on Monday showing the Other Backward Classes constituted over 63 per cent of the state’s 13.1 crores population, the BJP rushed in to share credit emphasising that the party had voted in favour of holding the survey. Even the union minister Giriraj Singh even while criticising the survey as “eyewash” maintained the BJP was not opposed to hold the survey.
The BJP leaders apparently did not expect Modi to oppose the caste-based survey so vehemently. Addressing a rally at Gwalior in election-bound Madhya Pradesh, Modi without making a direct reference to Bihar survey, lashed out at the opposition claiming that the caste-based survey would divide the country on caste lines.
Continuing his attack on the opposition, Modi slammed the Congress at a rally in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday over its nationwide caste census pitch and accused the party of trying to divide Hindus, and sought to know if it wanted to curtail the rights of Muslims by advocating a population-based distribution of resources. Modi said for him, the poor form the biggest chunk of the country’s population and they should have the first right over resources, irrespective of their caste or community. He also accused the Congress of dividing the society on caste lines for votes.
Returning to the party line, Choudhary said, “There has been verification of caste…A voter list is scrutinised after it is made. There has been no scrutiny here. So how did they verify someone’s caste? I saw a survey report on TV where 55 people out of 100 said nobody had asked them their caste (during the survey).”
Addressing a press conference in Patna, the BJP leader quoted a media survey as saying 55 out of 100 people said they were not asked about their caste. He said “the Nitish Kumar government must explain they it showed caste equation but not financial…This is an incomplete report,” Choudhary said.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, whose party is a constituent of the ruling bloc in the state, welcomed the caste survey and said the country needs a caste census to give people rights as per their proportion in population.
Modi at the rally said, “Since yesterday (Monday), the Congress has started speaking a different tune. Congress leaders say the ‘abadi’ (population) of people will decide the rights (on resources), but for Modi, poor people are the biggest ‘abadi’ of the country and they have the first right over resources. Welfare of the poor is my aim,” he said.
The BJP’s star campaigner referred to a 2006 statement of then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh advocating that minorities, particularly Muslims, must have the “first claim” on resources. “I was wondering what would former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ji be thinking? Manmohan Singh ji used to say minorities have the first right over resources of the country and that too the Muslims. But now the Congress is saying proportion in population will decide who will get how much share of rights. Does that mean they want to curtail the rights of Muslims?” he asked.
“Whose population is more?” the PM asked and wondered if it will be possible to ensure distribution of the rights according to social groups’ share in the demographic mix. “If they want to divide the rights on the basis of population, then who will have the first right (over resources)? Whose population is more? Congress leaders should clarify whether the rights will be given according to share in population, whether the Congress wants to take away the rights of minorities. Should Hindus, who have the biggest population in the country, come forward and claim all the rights?” he asked.
Attacking the Mallikarjun Kharge-led party, the PM said the national outfit wants to destroy India by dividing the Hindus. “I have been saying for a long time that the Congress is no longer being run by Congress people. Big leaders of the Congress are sitting with their mouths shut. Now people in nexus with anti-national forces are running the Congress from behind the curtain. The Congress wants to destroy India by dividing the Hindus at any cost. It wants to divide the poor also. For me, the poor are the biggest community in the country. Welfare of the poor means welfare of the country,” the PM said.
Continuing his attack on the Congress, a key constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc, the PM said that the 138-year-old party takes pleasure in speaking against the country. “So far, the Congress has not disclosed what secret pact it has entered into with some other country. But the people are watching that the Congress takes pleasure in speaking against India. It presents the good things of India in a bad light and enjoys it. It seems their love for the country has dwindled,” he said.