Cong’s Singhvi Strikes Discordant Note on Party’s Pitch for ‘Jitni Abaadi, Utna Haq’, Clarifies Later – News18

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi on Tuesday landed in a tight spot after his social media post apparently raised questions on the caste-based survey. However, he later deleted the post and clarified that he and his party will continue to support the caste-based survey.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, today, Singhvi, a senior advocate, said equality of opportunity is never the same as equality of outcomes. “People endorsing #jitniabadiutnahaq have to first completely understand the consequences of it. It will eventually culminate into majoritarianism,” the Congress leader said in a post, which now stands deleted.

Later, he said that he did not take a different stand and added it is essential for caste census to take place.

Congress Communications In-charge Jairam Ramesh was quick to dismiss Singhvi’s remarks on X as the leader’s personal views and not in any way connected to the party.

“Dr. 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,” he wrote on X.

On Monday, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar released findings of its much-awaited caste survey months ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections, which revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total population.

According to the data released, the state’s total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the Extremely Backward Classes (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 per cent. The survey also stated that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, were the largest in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total.

Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes. On September 6, the top court had deferred for October 3 the hearing on pleas challenging the Patna High Court’s August 1 order giving the go-ahead for a caste survey in Bihar.

(With PTI inputs)