Rahul Gandhi's latest proposal for a caste-based census was challenged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said that it was an attempt to split Hindu society at the behest of hostile foreign forces who were working behind the scenes and through handlers. “The Congress has been outsourced. The party, being hand in glove with anti-India forces, is trying to divide Hindu society and wants to destroy the country. The Congress wants to divide the poor of the country,” the PM said at a rally at Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region.
The comments were made a day after the government of Bihar announced the results of its caste-based poll, sparking concern that the demand for a similar study across the country and in other states may have put the BJP in a difficult position because the saffron party would find it challenging to oppose the campaign started by invoking the rights of the OBCs who make up the majority.
He said resources should be allocated on the basis of poverty as it was the poor who were in a majority and constituted the biggest caste. “For me, they (the poor) are the biggest caste and, hence, entitled to the biggest share, they have the first claim on a country’s resources,” Modi said while referring to his welfare schemes which, according to him, had generated self confidence among the poor.