A list released by the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) not only mentions the religions and communities its 64 members belong to, but also contains details such as their castes.
Barely a few months after the Congress working committee (CWC) decided at a meeting to advise leaders not to use prefixes to names that would suggest caste, the Bihar unit of the party has flouted the norm.
A list released by the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) not only mentions the religions and communities its 64 members belong to, but also contains details such as their castes, including SC/ST, background and the names of districts they come from.
Apart from flouting the party norm, the list is in contravention of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar has been mentioned as belonging to the Dalit community.
It’s another matter that since she is in a constitutional position, she cannot hold a party post.
Senior party leaders sought to explain the list on Tuesday. They said names of communities had been mentioned to ensure all castes in the state are adequately represented on BPCC.
“The idea was to ensure proper representation to all sections, since in the past, a majority of the posts have been cornered by a few castes,” Jagdish Tytler, the AICC in-charge of Bihar, said.
In some cases, even sub-castes of members have been mentioned. Scheduled caste members have been classified as Chamar, Dushad, Pasi, Dhobi, etc, while details such as Koeri, Kurmi, Yadav and Vaish/Baniya have been provided about members from the OBC community.
Members belonging to the upper caste have been classified as Kanyakubj Brahman, Bengali Brahman, Maithili Brahman, Bhumihar and Rajput. Only caste affiliations of Muslims have not been mentioned.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}