Ajit Pawar led the rebellion which led to a split in his uncle Sharad Pawar’s party

Mumbai:

The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has said in its manifesto that it supports the demand for a caste-based census, an issue which was pushed by the rival Congress and sidelined by NCP ally BJP. . “Our party believes in the right to live as a human being irrespective of caste, creed and religion. It believes in equality and unity. NCP believes in the statement of social reformer Sane Guruji, ‘True religion is love to the world. The manifesto says that we will have to bring the deprived and backward sections of the society into the mainstream.

Ajit Pawar, who led the rebellion against his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar and caused a split in the party, said he has “not given up his ideologies” after joining hands with the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. “I want to say again, although I am part of the Grand Alliance [alliance of BJP, Sena and NCP], I have not given up my ideology. We are committed to this and are working accordingly,” the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister has said.

In a promise of greater alliance with its ally BJP, the NCP has said it believes in “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas”.

The NCP manifesto also said that the party will demand Bharat Ratna for former Union Home Minister and former Maharashtra Chief Minister late Yashwantrao Chavan. The manifesto also said that the NCP will insist on a classical language tag for Marathi.

Releasing the party’s manifesto, Ajit Pawar praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s contribution to the country in the last 10 years. “Modi’s leadership will ensure our victory in the elections. There is no one in the opposition who can compete with him. He is the face of the NDA.”

The NCP’s support for the caste census despite being part of the NDA comes in the backdrop of strong pressure from the Congress for such a survey. The Congress has said in its manifesto that if it comes to power, it will “conduct a nationwide socio-economic and caste census to enumerate the castes and sub-castes and their socio-economic conditions”. It said, “On the basis of data, we will strengthen the agenda of positive action.” Party leader Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly clarified Congress’s stand on this issue.

The BJP, while not directly opposing the caste census, has said that it does not do “politics” on the issue.

Last year, before the Chhattisgarh elections, Home Minister Amit Shah had said, “We are a national political party and we do not do vote politics on this issue. We will take an appropriate decision after consulting everyone and will let you know about it.” ” But contesting elections on this basis is not right. BJP has never opposed it (caste census), but the decision will have to be taken thoughtfully. We will let you know at the appropriate time.

In October last year, when the then JDU-RJD-Congress government in Bihar conducted a caste survey, Prime Minister Modi had made a veiled attack on the main opposition party. The Prime Minister had then said that the Congress could not achieve rapid development despite being in power for decades because they “played with the sentiments of the poor and divided the society on caste lines”.

In view of the split in the NCP, factions led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar are contesting the elections from different camps as part of the NDA and India Bloc respectively.