PIL seeks ban on caste, tribe based social groups

Agencies
September 2, 2018

Mumbai, Sept 2: A petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking ban on registered or unregistered social organisations constituted in the name of caste and tribe. The petition, filed on August 31, will be listed for hearing soon.

Petitioner Akshay Bhikkad has claimed in his petition that such organisations are ruining the social fabric of India in the name of caste or tribe and cultural groups. "Because the caste/tribe organisations, numerous in various castes, indulge in creating social disharmony and cause damage to the social thread by posing against other tribes, they bring social enmity instead of unity," the petition read.

Bikkad further noted that many incidents were reported by the media of tiffs arising between various caste organisations over differences of opinion, which subsequently lead to a divide in the same caste.

"The view of one organisation of any given caste often is considered as the view of the entire caste, which may not be the case. And other members of that given caste, if they do not toe the lines of such organisations, face social hatred and even boycott in certain cases," he added.

The petitioner claimed that such organisations are creating social drift and spreading social hatred primarily through hate speeches besides other divisionary tactics, and therefore, called for a ban on such organisations.

"The petitioner respectfully submits that there can be social organizations, registered or unregistered which may work for the social justice and upliftment of the respective communities without having caste/tribe included in their names," he noted.

An active Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) member, Bikkad was one of the complainants who registered an FIR against Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student activist Umar Khalid for delivering "hatred speeches" in an Elgar Parishad on December 31. 

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News Network
December 22,2025

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received ₹6,654.93 crore in donations during the 2024-25 financial year — a Lok Sabha election year — registering a 68 per cent increase over the previous fiscal.

In its annual contribution report submitted to the Election Commission on December 8, two days ahead of the deadline, the BJP disclosed all donations exceeding ₹20,000. The report, now available on the Commission’s website, covers contributions received between April 1, 2024 and March 30, 2025 — a period marked by the general election and Assembly polls in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Delhi.

The BJP, the world’s largest political party by membership, had reported donations of ₹3,967 crore in 2023-24. The latest figures represent the party’s highest donation receipts in the last five years.

Electoral trusts accounted for around 40 per cent of the BJP’s total donations. The Prudent Electoral Trust contributed ₹2,180 crore, followed by the Progressive Electoral Trust with ₹757 crore and the New Democratic Electoral Trust with ₹150 crore. Contributions from other electoral trusts together amounted to ₹3,112.5 crore. The remaining funds came from corporate donors and individuals. Electoral trusts are entities set up by companies to channel donations to political parties.

Among major corporate contributors, Serum Institute of India donated ₹100 crore, Rungta Sons Private Limited ₹95 crore, Vedanta ₹67 crore, and Macrotech Developers (formerly Lodha Developers) ₹65 crore. Three Bajaj Group companies together contributed ₹65 crore, while Derive Investments donated ₹50 crore.

Other notable donors included Malabar Gold (₹10 crore), Kalyan Jewellers (₹15.1 crore), Hero Group (₹23.65 crore), Dilip Buildcon Group (₹29 crore), ITC Limited (₹35 crore), Wave Industries (₹5.25 crore) and Zerodha’s investment firm, promoted by Nikhil Kamath, which contributed ₹1.5 crore.

Several BJP leaders also made individual donations. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma donated ₹3 lakh, Assam minister Pijush Hazarika ₹2.75 lakh, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan ₹1 lakh, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi ₹5 lakh, Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava ₹1 lakh, and Akash Vijayvargiya, son of senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, also donated ₹1 lakh, among others.

In contrast, most opposition parties reported a sharp decline in donations. The Congress received ₹522.13 crore in 2024-25, a fall of about 43 per cent from ₹1,129 crore in the previous year. The Trinamool Congress saw donations drop to ₹184.08 crore from ₹618.8 crore, while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi reported just ₹15.09 crore, down from ₹580 crore.

The Aam Aadmi Party, however, recorded an increase, collecting ₹39.2 crore compared to ₹22.1 crore last year. The Telugu Desam Party received ₹85.2 crore in donations, down from ₹274 crore, but also earned ₹102 crore through fees and subscriptions. The Biju Janata Dal reported ₹60 crore in donations, compared to ₹246 crore in the previous fiscal.

The 2024-25 financial year is also the first without electoral bonds, after the Supreme Court struck down the scheme as unconstitutional in February 2024. Since its introduction in 2018, the electoral bond scheme had enabled political parties to receive over ₹16,000 crore in anonymous donations, with the BJP receiving the largest share. 

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