Abhishek Singhvi opposes Rahul Gandhi's pitch for "jitni aabadi, utna haq"; deletes later

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Tuesday opposed former party president Rahul Gandhi’s pitch for "jitni aabadi, utna haq" based on nationwide caste census.

Singhvi is the first senior leader from the grand old party and opposition bloc to denounce the idea of holding a nationwide caste census.

In an apparent reference to Gandhi, Singhvi said in a now deleted post on X, “People endorsing #jitniabadiutnahaq have to first completely understand the consequences of it. It will eventually culminate into majoritarianism.”

Singhvi implied that Gandhi’s pitch for “jitni aabadi, utna haq” is without understanding its consequences, which will promote majoritarianism.

Congress general secretary and media in charge Jairam Ramesh promptly dismissed Singhvi’s comments.

“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 18th, 2023,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

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 18th, 2023.

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 3, 2023

Soon after the Bihar government released the caste survey data on Monday, Gandhi said the caste census of Bihar has proved that 84 per cent of people in the state are OBCs, SCs and STs and their share should be according to their population.

बिहार की जातिगत जनगणना से पता चला है कि वहां OBC + SC + ST 84% हैं।

केंद्र सरकार के 90 सचिवों में सिर्फ़ 3 OBC हैं, जो भारत का मात्र 5% बजट संभालते हैं!

इसलिए, भारत के जातिगत आंकड़े जानना ज़रूरी है। जितनी आबादी, उतना हक़ - ये हमारा प्रण है।

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 2, 2023

Responding to Gandhi’s attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition of dividing society on caste lines.

While Gandhi has been demanding the release of the findings of the 2011 caste survey when the UPA was in power under Dr Manmohan Singh, the chorus has grown in the Karnataka Congress for releasing the findings of the caste census that was completed in 2018.

The first Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of Karnataka had commissioned the caste census in 2015. Conducted by the then Backward Classes Commission, headed by Kantharaju, the caste survey was submitted in 2018 but its findings are yet to be released.

The BJP accused the Congress of playing with voters’ intelligence and asked why the Congress did not release the data both at the Centre between 2011 to 2014 and now in Karnataka.