Singhvi's remarks personal, no way reflects party's position: Congress (Lead)

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) Congress on Tuesday dubbed the remarks of senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on ‘jitni abadi, utna haq’ as reflection of his own personal view, and said that “in no way does it reflect the position of the party”.

“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 26th February, 2023 and in the CWC Resolution of September 16th, 2023,” Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh wrote on X.

His remarks came after Singhvi, a noted lawyer and party Rajya Sabha MP differed with party’s stand of giving people rights based on their population.

“Equality of opportunity is never the same as equality of outcomes. People endorsing ‘jitni abadi utna haq’ have to first completely understand the consequences of it. It will eventually culminate into majoritarianism,” Singhvi wrote on X.

His remarks came after the Bihar government on the occasion of the Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary released the much-awaited caste-based survey on Monday.

Following the release of the caste-based census released by the Bihar government, former party chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday reiterated his demand of the greater the population, the greater the rights.

He said that the census has revealed that OBC, Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes (ST) are 84 per cent in the state and therefore it is important to know the caste statistics of India.

“The caste census of Bihar has revealed that OBC (other backward classes), SC and STs are 84 per cent there. Out of 90 secretaries of the Central Government, only three are OBCs, who handle only 5 per cent of India's budget,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on X.

“Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India. The greater the population, the greater the rights – this is our pledge,” the Lok Sabha MP from Kerala’s Wayanad said.

As per the report, Bihar has a population of over 13 crore people, of which the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) comprise 36.01 per cent of the population, the Other Backward Classes (OBC) 27 per cent, Scheduled Castes 19.65 per cent, Scheduled Tribes 1.68 per cent, while the Upper Castes constitute 15.52 per cent of the population.

Among the Backward Classes, Yadavs constitute 14.26 per cent of the population while the Kushwahas and Kurmis are 4.27 per cent and 2.87 per cent, respectively.

The caste-based survey was passed in both Houses of the Bihar Vidhan Mandal last year and every political party gave consent for it.