'I work for Sangh': MP Congress MLA puts party in a bind
BHOPAL: A first-time Congress MLA kicked up a storm when he publicly declared his association with the Sangh (RSS), while being in the principal opposition party.
A video of Bhairo Singh, the first-time Congress MLA from the Susner seat of western MP's Agar-Malwa district, was shared by state BJP spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi on the social media platform X on Monday.
In the video, which pertains to a Sondhiya caste Mahasabha event held around ten days ago, Singh can be heard saying, 'Despite being in the Congress, I too am associated with the Sangh.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
44 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Census 2027 could help understand how caste hierarchy intersects with gender and religion: Sociologist Trina Vithayathil
The Union Home Ministry has issued a gazette notification announcing that the 16th Census of India will take place in two phases, with the reference dates set as March 1, 2027, for most of the country and October 1, 2026, for snow-bound and remote regions such as Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The 2027 census will also include the first nationwide caste enumeration since 1931. Yet, the announcement raises urgent questions: Will this be a genuine step toward caste equity or another deflection? Historically, successive governments have promised caste enumeration only to backtrack. In her book, Counting Caste: Census Politics, Bureaucratic Deflection, and Brahmanical Power in India, sociologist Trina Vithayathil traces the institutional sabotage of caste data and the systemic refusal to acknowledge caste privilege. Drawing on years of fieldwork and interviews, her analysis provides a critical lens to understand today's developments. In an interview with she reflects on the meaning of caste enumeration, the myth of neutrality in data collection, and the deep-rooted power structures that shape India's census politics. Edited excerpts: Depending on the design and execution of caste-related questions in Census 2027, the census could provide a comprehensive understanding of how caste hierarchy intersects with gender, religion, education, literacy, occupation, household amenities, assets, and place of residence, among other socio-economic factors. The census could document the relational nature of caste, including how caste privilege and power operate for the first time since 1931. With regards to the institutionalisation of castelessness, scholars such as Professor Satish Deshpande have traced how political leaders from dominant castes muted their caste identities to represent all of India in the 1930s and construct a Congress 'majority'. They did so in response to Dr BR Ambedkar's demand for separate electorates, and continued to oppose many of his recommendations in independent India (for example, to expand reservations to additional caste-oppressed groups and enact a Hindu Code Bill to challenge caste and patriarchy in social life), which strived to build institutional mechanisms to safeguard the interests of marginalised communities including the election of leaders and the entry of bureaucrats committed to annihilating caste, patriarchy, and related systems of domination. Instead, the systems that reproduce caste-based privilege and power became obscured and were allowed to take on new forms that often appear consistent with democratic values. Census officials in independent India were eager to redirect time and energy away from the enumeration of caste, which they saw as an obsession of the colonial state but largely irrelevant in independent India. Caste, religion, and race were key social categories enumerated in colonial censuses, and census officials spent considerable time and resources creating caste lists and collecting, compiling, and publishing caste-wise data. Across colonial censuses, the state struggled to commensurate caste, that is, create a common metric or set of comparable categories within and across localised systems of caste hierarchy. Yet, marginalised groups also used these census data to make demands on the colonial state to address caste-based inequalities, including the under-representation of caste-oppressed groups and the restricted access to 'public' resources and institutions. Census data helped to make visible gross caste-related inequalities and assisted in the development of policies to address caste-based discrimination and exclusion. In contrast, political leaders in independent India argued that if the state focused on economic development, then caste hierarchy would dismantle itself; this view justified the decision to restrict the enumeration of caste in the census and squarely aligned with the strengthening of an ideology of castelessness. Though political leaders publicly backed caste enumeration in Census 2011, officials in the Home Ministry and Office of the Registrar General, India (ORGI) resisted, arguing it would compromise the census's accuracy. Framing the issue as technical rather than political, they sidelined advocates and shaped the decision-making process out of public view. This led to the exclusion of a caste-wise enumeration in the census on the grounds of protecting its 'integrity.' Political leaders obtained written support for a caste census from every political party but in the process secured operational latitude through a cleverly worded inquiry. Executive bureaucrats redirected the caste count to the National Population Register (NPR) but facing pressure proposed a separate caste census after the main Census 2011. This never materialized, and the caste count was instead folded into the Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey, later renamed the Socio-Economic Caste (SEC) Census. Years later, the resulting caste-wise data were deemed unusable and never published. The caste-wise enumeration in the SEC survey was undermined by an ideology of 'castelessness.' The first caste question lacked OBC and general category options required to classify approximately 77.5% of the population. The inclusion of 'other' and 'no caste/tribe' options further diluted a meaningful enumeration of caste. The second caste question failed to include a caste list for the catch-all 'other' option from the first question, resulting in unstandardised, unprocessable answers. Little effort was made to enumerate caste among religious minorities excluded from SC classification, neglecting tens of millions from caste-oppressed backgrounds. Without external oversight, future efforts may face the same fate. For more than 150 years, texts such as Jotirao Phule's Slavery and BR Ambedkar's States and Minorities have described the interwoven relationship between technocratic reasoning and Brahmanical power. Dr Ambedkar worried that if the executive bureaucracy remained in the hands of those dominated by Brahmanical ways of thinking, then social and political equality would not be possible — the state would fail to prioritise dismantling systems of caste- and gender-based discrimination and privilege in independent India. He foresaw how bureaucratic expertise and technocratic decision-making would reproduce existing hierarchies of power instead of correcting histories of exclusion. Technocratic reasoning is often incorrectly seen as apolitical and therefore caste and-gender-free; this gives experts leeway to make decisions with limited external scrutiny and allows for the perpetuation of Brahmanical ways of thinking. In the case of Census 2011, executive bureaucrats used technocratic language to steer a public conversation and convince the political leadership not to enumerate caste in the census. Non-experts had difficulty challenging the premise that somehow enumerating caste in the census would ruin the decadal population count. Technocratic reasoning (for where there is a high bar for entry) replaced a conversation over the importance of collecting caste-wise data for the administration of affirmative action, broader policy and programmatic purposes, and social justice concerns. Similarly, research from other parts of the world traces how technocracies threaten the ability for historically marginalised groups to shape the creation, design, and monitoring of public policies and programmes. The political leadership relocated the task of the caste enumeration from the Census of India after conceding to the ORGI's position that it would be too difficult to collect the caste-wise data in the census and could ruin the integrity of the census. Timing-wise, the planning of the BPL survey was almost complete, and so political leaders eventually decided to combine both projects and provided additional resources for a combined caste-wise enumeration and BPL survey. The state published BPL data from the SEC survey in 2015 and 2016, but the caste-wise data have yet to be published. An expert committee chaired by Professor Arvind Panagariya was created in 2015 to analyse the caste-wise data, but it's unclear who was on the committee, whether the committee met, and if the committee submitted a final report. The design of the caste-related questions and answer options in the SEC survey, the gaps in the enumerator training, and the burial of the collected data all highlight how the central government (across political administrations) has evaded the documentation of caste power and promoted the invisibility of caste-wise data. The Bihar caste survey data builds upon a history of local and regional political movements challenging an ideology of castelessness in the census. It also contests the castelessness narrative by making visible how caste hierarchy structures socioeconomic life. At the same time, the central government has repeatedly decentralised the enumeration of caste to state-level agencies (whether state governments, Backward Classes Commissions, or other entities) from the 1950s to the present day as a strategy to avoid a nationwide enumeration of caste in the census. Aishwarya Khosla is a journalist currently serving as Deputy Copy Editor at The Indian Express. Her writings examine the interplay of culture, identity, and politics. She began her career at the Hindustan Times, where she covered books, theatre, culture, and the Punjabi diaspora. Her editorial expertise spans the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab and Online desks. She was the recipient of the The Nehru Fellowship in Politics and Elections, where she studied political campaigns, policy research, political strategy and communications for a year. She pens The Indian Express newsletter, Meanwhile, Back Home. Write to her at or You can follow her on Instagram: @ink_and_ideology, and X: @KhoslaAishwarya. ... Read More
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
Robert Vadra Skips Enforcement Directorate Summons Again
New Delhi: Businessman Robert Vadra, husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, has once again skipped the summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the ongoing money laundering probe linked to fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. According to sources, Mr Vadra is currently abroad to attend his daughter's graduation ceremony. He had earlier missed a summons issued on June 10 as well, citing flu-like symptoms. The agency had issued fresh summons for Tuesday, June 17, asking Mr Vadra to join the investigation in Delhi. The ED is probing alleged links between Mr Vadra and two London properties said to be acquired by Sanjay Bhandari - one at 12, Bryanston Square and another at Grosvenor Hill Court, 13 Bourdon Street. Officials claim the Bryanston Square property was renovated on Mr Vadra's directions and funded by him, and that he stayed there on multiple occasions. The properties, along with certain land parcels in India, are being investigated as alleged "proceeds of crime" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency had filed the money laundering case in 2016. Another key figure in the case is NRI businessman CC Thampi, who was arrested in 2020. Authorities claim Mr Thampi played a significant role in facilitating property deals for Mr Vadra through a Dubai-based company. Sanjay Bhandari, a 61-year-old fugitive arms dealer, is under investigation by multiple agencies - ED, CBI, Income Tax Department, and Delhi Police - for violations ranging from foreign exchange laws to the Official Secrets Act. Indian authorities have sent two extradition requests for Mr Bhandari, both certified by then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2020. Although he was arrested in the UK, his extradition was blocked earlier this year by the King's Bench Division of the UK High Court, citing potential risks of mistreatment in Indian prisons. Mr Vadra has denied any connection, directly or indirectly, and termed the charges a "political witch hunt". The businessman said he was being "hounded and harassed".
New Indian Express
an hour ago
- New Indian Express
Congress government committed to farmer welfare: Telangana Dy CM Bhatti
HYDERABAD: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka reiterated the Congress government's commitment to farmers' welfare despite criticism from BRS leaders. Speaking at the Rythu Nestham programme, Vikramarka said the government had faced several challenges but had remained steadfast in assisting farmers. 'We have faced all sorts of challenges and have stood by farmers,' he said. Vikramarka alleged that BRS leaders were attempting to malign the government. 'While this government is providing help and cooperation to the people, BRS leaders are burning with jealousy. Even BRS leaders themselves have admitted their party is filled with evil spirits. Today, these spirits are making a spectacle. Chase them away, don't allow them into your villages,' he said. He outlined the government's vision for the agricultural sector, expressing hope that farmers would prosper and that crops would flourish. He assured that new welfare schemes would be introduced in the coming months. Vikramarka stressed that the Congress government had not discontinued any welfare scheme introduced by the previous regime and was implementing additional programmes aimed at supporting farmers. He pointed out that within three to four months of taking office, the government had deposited Rs 21,000 crore under the farmer loan waiver scheme, an initiative unmatched by any other state.
