Saffron camp split on caste census
28 May 2010, 0503 hrs IST,ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The split in the saffron parivar over the demand for
caste-based census was on full display on Thursday when the Shiv Sena,
the BJP's
oldest ally, too came out against the proposal, arguing that it would
be ``detrimental to the country's interests.''
A day after the Cabinet, while giving its in-principle approval to the
demand, referred it to a GoM to work out the nitty-gritties of the
exercise to weave the caste element into the census exercise, the Shiv
Sena hit out at the proposal.
"Caste-based census would be detrimental...there would be fissures in
the country," Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray told newspersons at
Matoshree, his residence in Mumbai's suburban Bandra, after releasing
the 'Sena Diary' on Thursday.
The Shiv Sena's stance on the issue is in consonance with the line
taken by the RSS, but is in variance with the BJP's deputy leader in
the Lok Sabha, Gopinath Munde's thinking.
Supporting the cause of caste census, Mr Munde, a prominent OBC leader
himself, maintained that it would not divide people, but would rather
help in estimating the actual population of OBCs in the country and
highlight the plight of the poor. "Caste census will not divide the
people, but give justice to the poor people and also help estimate the
real population of the OBCs,'' Mr Munde had said.
"Such an exercise was undertaken last in 1931 and after that, there
has been no statistical support to verify the estimated 52% OBC
population,'' the BJP leader added.
BJP, however, is split down the middle on the demand for caste-based
census. While the party backed the OBC chieftains — Mulayam Singh
Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad — in seeking a head-count on the
basis of caste-identities, its president Nitin Gadkari has voiced his
opposition to the proposal.
Mr Gadkari's views on caste-based census mirror the RSS' take on the
subject. The Sangh views the growing clamour for caste-based census as
being inimical to its long-term plans of establishing a casteless
society in India.
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