“THE counting of castes in the ongoing census will weaken the efforts of social harmony and Rashtriya Ekatmata (national integration) being pushed by various organisations and people in the country. It will also ruin the dream of creating a casteless society as was emancipated by many great personalities like Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and others. The RSS has been working since beginning for the unity of the whole Hindu society irrespective of castes,” said RSS Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi. He was talking to the media persons at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on May 23.
He said the census drive which is going on in the country now-a-days lacks the provisions to identity the foreign nationals living illegally in the country, which may pose a major threat to the security and integrity of the country. Since the information for preparing the National Population Register is also being collected during the census process, the RSS, he said, feels that issuing multi-purpose identity cards on the basis of this National Population Register would be wrong. He demanded the Central government to issue the multi-purpose identity cards only after ascertaining the nationality of the people. He said the decision to prepare the National Register of Citizens taken in the year 2003 by the then government should be implemented and such a register should be prepared only on the basis of the nationality law.
Speaking on the argument that the counting of OBCs is must for extending them reservation benefits he said separate standards should be adopted for this purpose. “It will be wrong to take any decision in this regard without discussing the matter in totality and consulting with various social groups,” he added.
(FOC)
