Stressing that although the Maharashtra government had never objected to conducting a caste-based survey, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Friday clarified that his government, however, would not take any decision that would heighten social tensions across the State.
In a bid to retain the slipping hold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the critical Other Backward Classes (OBC) vote-base in the State, Mr. Fadnavis, who was addressing a rally in Washim district (in the Vidarbha region) as part of his party’s ‘OBC Jagar Yatra’, said that the BJP’s “DNA comprised of the OBC and the VJNT (Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribes).”
Accusing Congressman Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party of double-standards, Mr. Fadnavis demanded to know why it was so insistent on holding a caste census at a time when the 2024 Lok Sabha election was round the corner.
