Nagpur: BJP should clarify its stand on the
caste based census issue and clear the misconception that its
affairs are controlled by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,
RSS ideologue M G alias Baburao Vaidya said on Sunday.
"BJP is still undecided. Opposition Leader in Lok Sabha
Sushma Swaraj, Opposition Leader in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley
along with L K Advani should come out with a statement on the
caste-based census issue," Vaidya wrote in his weekly column
in local Marathi daily `Tarun Bharat`.
He said, BJP president Nitin Gadkari should immediately
convene a national executive meeting and announce the party`s
policy decision over the issue.
According to Vaidya, RSS has already made known its
opposition to the caste based census but, "the BJP is free to
decide and not necessarily toe the RSS line. This will indeed
help clear the misconception that BJP`s affairs are controlled
from the RSS headquarters."
The BJP has officially maintained a silence over the
issue despite senior party leader and deputy Leader in the Lok
Sabha Gopinath Munde openly supporting the caste-based census,
he added.
"Munde struck cordial relationship with Maharashtra
Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal recently on the issue of
caste based census even before it came in the Lok Sabha and
got a tremendous support from Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu
Prasad Yadav, he said.
"Other Backward Classes (OBC) is not a particular
community but a cluster of communities and that is demanding
inclusion in census. The paramount question is should Munde`s
stance be taken as an official party line?," Vaidya wrote in
the column.
Supporting the caste census, Munde had said it would not
divide people but help estimate 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 and also help estimate the real population of the
OBCs," Munde had said.
According to the RSS ideologue, even the Congress was not
united on the issue.
"While Law Minister Veerappa Moily is in favour of caste
based census, Home Minister P Chidambaram is against it and
has cited some operational difficulties," Vaidya said in the
article.
"Caste system is no more relevant today as many of them
are not following it. It will be a conspiracy merely to create
a vote bank," Vaidya added.
PTI
