It is a known fact of life that there are many communities in India that are backward; many of them get benefits on the basis of caste such as reservations in jobs and education. There is some debate on a policy of reservation, but the prime justification is that these castes have been suppressed as part of social and religious practices; there is also a whole host of politics involved in this whole affair.
It is this problem of politics that causes most problems; for some time now, the Congress has realized that it has been losing the support of Muslims, and this is not something that the Congress can easily accept. In order to regain power in the states and center, it needs to bring together a coalition of many parts of society such as the Dalits (except in Uttar Pradesh where Mayawati has got their support), forward castes such as the Brahmins, and the Muslims. Hence, a concerted plan to take measures that would be seen as benefiting the Muslim community; it is these that are now causing it problems.
In what was shocking news, there was an article in the newspaper about how Arjun Singh made some comments during the launch of a book in which bemoaned the lack of freedom in the party and how comments were not appreciated. Now, we all know this is shocking, not because this is not true, but because nobody in the Congress who wants to be a somebody would say something like this (the very lack of freedom in the Congress contributed to the quick downfall of anybody who made statements like these).
But Arjun Singh did not stop there, he continued in the same line, uttering things that could be easily refuted (such as having advised against the emergency, while most people would have known that he was such a careful person politically that he would not have opposed either Sanjay Gandhi or Indira Gandhi). In fact, he even failed to mention the name of Sonia or Rahul on this occasion, something that is a cardinal sin in the Congress.