Shriya Koul, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: Like every election, caste is the hot button of the 2024 Lok Sabha election as well. Political parties have already announced their nominees, keeping in mind their caste arithmetic. Addressing a rally in Jharkhand’s Ranchi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi remarked that if the INDIA bloc (an alliance of the Opposition Congress and other regional parties) is voted to power, the new government would conduct a caste census as well as remove the 50% cap on the reservation. On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Opposition of dividing the country along caste lines when Bihar went ahead with the release of the caste census.
The last caste census was conducted in 1931 — the colonial era. Ninety-two years later, in 2023, Bihar emerged as the only Indian state to hold the caste census. Furthermore, that census revealed that the state’s 63% population was constituted by the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Extremely Backward Class (EBC).
Ashish Dua, secretary of the All-India Congress Committee and in-charge of Maharashtra, said the politics of his party has been an inclusive one. He referred to the catchline — “jitni aabadi, utna haq” (rights should be proportional to communities’ population) — that Gandhi stressed on, almost making it the party’s ‘ringtone’.
“We require a census for social identification and economic empowerment. This must work in tandem for any caste to realise their potential,” he said.
Dua said the Constitution expressly provides for affirmative action for the Schedule Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST). “However, over the years, certain castes apart from the SC and ST communities have been identified. These social groups are also historically marginalised and need empowerment.”
The Congress carried out a Socio-Economic and Caste Census in 2011-12, but its data was never released.
Dua commented that the caste census is a long process. “We faced defeat in the 2014 general elections; and as a result, the data could not be released. However, the Congress utilised the socio-economic data for making budgets and for social empowerment,” he said, stressing the need to hold a caste census, “It is an X-ray of the society that will reveal marginalisation of different social groups”.
On the other hand, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a completely different take on the caste census.
Devang Dave, who is part of the saffron party’s election management committee for Maharashtra, said, “Politics is beyond caste now.”
He accused the Congress and regional parties of basing their politics on the division of people and preparing their vote banks along caste lines.
“People’s welfare and development of the nation are on the BJP’s agenda. For us, as emphasised by PM Modi, there are four castes — farmers, youth, women and poor. Empowerment of backward classes is our top priority. Most of our schemes, such as building toilets or providing gas cylinders, are for the poor. The beneficiaries of these initiatives are majorly OBCs,” he said.
Dave claimed after a long time, India has done away with the caste divide. The BJP, he said, focuses now on development and the economy, while the “Congress wants to take the nation back to what it was 50 years ago”.
“We do not want to divide the nation, instead work for it. Our government is holistic. We want to benefit the poor, which also includes the OBCs. To bring them to the mainstream, we are working on reservations,” he claimed.
The lack of updated census data has had a significant impact on various welfare schemes, which are aimed at supporting marginalised communities.
The Rohini Commission, which was constituted on October 2, 2017 and headed by former Delhi High Court Chief Justice G Rohini, was tasked with examining various socially backward classes and proposing criteria for sub-categorizing within the OBC community.
However, the Commission faced a major setback due to the unavailability of the latest census report.
Professor G. Mohan Gopal, an expert on constitutional law and social justice who previously served as the director of the National Judicial Academy, stated, “Conducting a caste census would offer vital insights into our population’s demographics. It would guide us towards effective measures for equitable representation in all sectors — be it legislature, executive, judiciary or private.”
He said it is about ensuring fairness and inclusivity for all.
In response to Gandhi’s remark on removing the 50% cap on reservation, he said Dr Ambedkar had pointed out that the criteria must be in place to ensure correction of the distortion of representation.
“The cap needs to be increased beyond 50% temporarily so that representation of different social groups in government jobs and educational institutions is also assured,” he said.
“For 92 years, none of these communities have been counted in a census. Their population is estimated mainly through sample surveys, which are inadequate. The idea is to destroy their social identity. The BJP is willing to carry out a census, but only based on religion and not community,” Gopal added.
The OBC question
The professor believes that the driving force behind the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is religious polarisation.
“The polarisation is done to weaken the social identity and community consciousness of the non-caste Hindus,” he said, adding, this can be observed in a statement, which Modi made in November 2023, saying, “For me, there are four biggest castes in the country. For me, the biggest caste is the poor. For me, the biggest caste is the youth, the biggest caste is women. For me, the biggest caste is farmers”.
Axis My India, a poll survey agency, in a detailed constituency-level survey for the India Today group showed that in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the BJP has an edge over the Congress in garnering the votes of the OBC.
“There appears to be a concerted effort within the Hindutva movement to cultivate a Hindu consciousness and identity among non-caste OBCs. And therefore, they do not talk about giving political reservations. If you give political reservation, it would strengthen the identity of non-caste Hindus,” he explained.
The Mandal Commission, he said, through its provision of reservations for various communities and its efforts to raise awareness about their underrepresentation, activated community identities.
“A counter movement was initiated during the Mandal era aimed at supplanting their identities with a singular Hindu identity. The strategy was to isolate Abrahamic minorities and unite backward classes, SCs and caste Hindus under the umbrella of Hindu identity. This is why it is called ‘Kamandal’ politics,” he continued.
He further emphasised Hindutva forces aim at ensuring that Varna caste Hindus retain power. This, according to him, underscores the BJP’s significant reliance on the votes of the “upper” caste.
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP came up with the idea of “Samagra Hindutva” against the “Mahagathbandhan”. The idea to include the OBCs and Dalits in the larger Hindutva fold was introduced by the then BJP President Amit Shah at a meeting of the functionaries of his party and its ideological mentor — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — in Lucknow.
According to the Mandal Commission report, most of the population is constituted by the Non-Varna OBC, ST and SC. Gopal said the party is wooing these communities for their votes by giving them some benefits and representation but not at decision-making levels.
“Irrespective of caste, anyone can climb to the highest position in the party, it is what BJP has proved. Around 27% of our MLAs across the country are from the OBC community. At least 40% of our Legislative Council members also belong to the same community,” Dave explained.
The “jumlas” around caste redressal measures are again surfacing in the ongoing election, but it is the marginalised who bear the brunt of the lack of caste surveys that deter their welfare. Caste census can be a political tool for the election, but Gopal said, “It is a health check-up for India.”
Shriya Koul is a freelance journalist and first-year student at AJK MCRC Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi