Maken's letter to young MPs draws Congress ire

NEW DELHI: Union Cabinet may have, for all practical purposes, decided to include caste as an enumerating criterion in the ongoing census but the issue continues to roil the Congress party. The divide in the party, which found full reflection in the deliberations of the Cabinet, is now out in the open, forcing the leadership to frown upon the airing of differences in public.

Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi on Friday disapproved of minister of state for home Ajay Maken's letter where he asked young party MPs to oppose the revival of caste-based count. "No one who is sitting in responsible position in government should make such a statement," Dwivedi told reporters.

"He should have avoided writing the letter," the party functionary said, stressing he had talked to Maken and he also felt the same. Dwivedi said the views expressed by Maken, who looks after the functioning of Registrar General of India — the agency tasked with the conduct of census — were "personal".

Maken's argument that the restoration of caste census would mark a "regression" and would result in party's development agenda being trumped by caste only echoed the sentiments expressed in the Cabinet by his senior colleagues — Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, M S Gill and others. Many of those who have not spoken out are also baffled by the leadership's sudden acquiescence to the campaign for caste-based census, spearheaded by rivals of the party in north India.

Maken's pitch resonates well with many in the party also because of the aggressive advocacy for caste-based enumeration by party leaders like law minister Veerappa Moily. Moily who wrote to the PM demanding the return of caste-based headcount and has led the fight for it within the Cabinet. It is pointed out that the law minister has regularly made public his views, and even referred to the divide within the Cabinet, within hours of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's advice not to wash policy linen in public.

Those sympathetic to Maken point out that the leadership which promptly expressed its displeasure of the minister's comment has preferred to wink at Moily running a public campaign. "That too when his comment that the party committed a mistake by not supporting the implementation of Mandal Commission is tantamount to criticism of Rajiv Gandhi," argue those supportive of the minister of state.

Politically speaking, Maken's views boil down to the argument that having won a decisive mandate on the basis of a plank focused on development, there was no need for the party to agree to a scheme designed to ensure that caste remains the chief political pivot.

The view is based on the assessment that the middle class, which is not that enamoured of caste, has emerged as a voting bloc big enough to take the party to another podium finish without it having to compete with caste-based formations.