Amid the ongoing debate over jitni abadi utna haq (greater population, greater rights) remark following the announcement of Bihar’s caste-based census, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Tuesday apprised people about the consequences of providing rights based on the population, emphasising that it will lead to ‘majoritarianism’. Notably, it was Rahul Gandhi who pitched for the slogan.
“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,” Singhvi wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
On Monday, the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government released the data of its census which was conducted based on different castes. The data found 36% of the 13.07 crore people in the state are from the extremely backward classes, 27.13% is from other backwards classes.
The former Congress chief hailed the Bihar’s caste-based survey and pitched for ‘jitni abadi utna haq’. “The caste census of Bihar has revealed that OBC SC ST are 84% there. Out of 90 secretaries of the Central Government, only 3 are OBC, who handle only 5% of India’s budget! Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India. The greater the population, the greater the rights – this is our pledge,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on X.
Reacting to Singhvi’s opinion, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said his party colleague’s post is his own personal view, however, it doesn’t reflect the position of the Indian National Congress.
“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,” the Congress MP said.
Soon after Ramesh’s response, Singhvi deleted his post from X.
