The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Tuesday said that it does not support the demand for a caste-based census.
RSS asserted such a move would aggravate social inequalities in the country.
Senior RSS functionaries made the organisation’s stand clear to the legislators of the ruling BJP and the Shiv Sena (Shinde group) from both the Maharashtra State Assembly and Council, who visited the RSS’ Smruti Mandir complex in Nagpur on Tuesday, HT reported.
“We do not see any benefits in it, instead see harm. It is the root of inequality and it is not justified to promote it,” Shridhar Ghadge, senior RSS pracharak and chief of Vidarbha prant, was quoted as having said.
He further expressed the RSS’s readiness to engage with the government if the purported benefits of a caste census are adequately explained, it added.
The report said during the visit of ministers and legislators, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and general secretary of the organisation, Dattatreya Hosabale, were not in Nagpur.
It also mentioned CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis were notably absent during Tuesday’s visit to the RSS premises.
Despite the NCP’s involvement in the Maharashtra government, none of its members, including deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, were part of the visit, it said.
“They ignored the BJP invitation and refrained from visiting the RSS office. Amol Mitkari, representing the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction), commented that it is within the rights of a particular party to decide whether or not to visit a specific place,” the report stated.
“It is the prerogative of every party on whether to visit a particular place or not. While the NCP received an invitation from the BJP, no one from our side attended,” Mitkari was quoted as having said.
He as per the report pointed out that deputy CM Pawar has consistently asserted that he would not compromise on his secular principles since his faction joined the coalition government.
The opposition to the caste-based census from the RSS comes after Union Home Minister Amit Shah mentioned last month that the BJP was not opposed to a caste-based census in the wake of such a census conducted by the Bihar government.
