Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Arguments for and against caste census has taken the centre stage in the Maharashtra and the Jharkhand state Assembly elections with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacking the Congress for demanding caste census and the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi counter-attacked the BJP for opposing caste census.
While at an election rally in Maharashtra on Friday Mr Modi said the Congress was pitting one caste against the other to stall the progress of the backward classes, Mr Gandhi soon afterwards hit back during a rally in Jharkhand claiming that the BJP was “holding back” the backward classes not to make them a partner in the country’s progress.
Mr Modi who virtually kick-started the ruling “Mahayuti” group’s Maharashtra election campaign with a rally in tribal-dominated Dhule in the north-western part of the state with an attack on the Congress for hatching a “conspiracy” against marginalised groups.
The Prime Minister claimed the Congress was bent on pitting one caste against the other, and so undermining each community’s chances to develop and progress. He urged voters to re-elect the Mahayuti alliance, repeating the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s disputed lines, “Ek hain to safe hain (if you are united, then you are safe).”
“A dangerous game of pitting one caste against another is being played by the Congress… and this game is being played because the Congress never wants to see Dalits or Backward Classes or tribal community members progress in life. This is the history of the Congress,” he declared.
Mr Modi also declared that only the Mahayuti – which consists of the BJP and the Shiv Sena and NCP factions led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar – could guarantee development in the state, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi consisting of the Congress and the factions of Shiv Sena and the NCP would scrap existing welfare measures and schemes.” “The Maha Vikas Aghadi vehicle has neither wheels nor brakes… and there is even a fight for the driver’s seat,” the Prime Minister said, jabbing at his rivals over protracted seat-share talks.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hit back for his party and the MVA hours later in Jharkhand, which is also voting this month, warning voters the BJP was trying to snatch their “jal, jungle, jameen (water, forest, land)” from tribal community members in both states.
“PM Modi calls you ‘vanvasi’ (forest dwellers) as the BJP believes land, forest, and water belong to it… the RSS (the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP’s ideological mentor), and capitalists. The BJP believes in grabbing tribal land on the pretext of ‘development’… it wants to snatch ‘jal, jungle, jameen’ from you,” Mr Gandhi declared in Jharkhand’s Simdega.
The backward classes, he said, were being “held back” by the ruling party, which had also stonewalled demands for a caste census. The Congress and the INDIA bloc have repeatedly called for an enumeration of caste populations in the country to help design effective policies.
Mr Gandhi has repeatedly said “90 per cent of the people are sitting outside the system and have no stake in governance”, and that a caste census, and a socio-economic survey, are needed to ensure the development of marginalised communities and women.
“We want the data. How many Dalits, OBCs, tribals, women, minorities… are there. We are trying to protect the Constitution through this demand for a caste census,” he said.
“We consider people as another form of god, but some people are in politics to loot people,” Mr Modi said attacking the opposition. Later addressing a rally at Nashik, Mr Modi slammed the Congress, saying the whole country has completely rejected that party due to its actions.
“Congress is no longer the All India Congress. It has now become a parasitic Congress. This Congress party is now surviving only on crutches. Be it Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Jharkhand… in most states, Congress is in a position to contest elections only with the support of other parties,” Mr Modi said.
For many decades, the Congress gave the slogan of eradicating poverty, but the poor remained dependent for food, clothes and shelter, he said. Wherever Congress and allies are there, scams are bound to happen, Mr Modi said. “Congress and allies leave no opportunity to push the country backwards and weaken it; they did so in defence manufacturing,” he said. The Congress and allies don’t care about the Constitution, courts and people’s sentiments; they (Congress leaders) carry the Constitution book in their pockets just for show, he said.
