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BJP to focus on govt schemes, OBC outreach
People aware of developments said the party is not only concerned about the demand snowballing into an election issue ahead of crucial state polls but also its impact on ties with allies, especially JD-U with which it runs a coalition government in Bihar
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making a concerted effort to ensure that awareness about and implementation of the Union government’s welfare schemes and outreach among other backward classes (OBC) drowns out a growing chorus -- from the Opposition, allies and even within the party fold -- for a caste census.
People aware of developments said that the party is not only concerned about the controversial demand snowballing into an election issue ahead of crucial polls in seven states but also its impact on ties with allies, especially the Janata Dal-United with which it runs a coalition government in Bihar.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has been leading the charge for a caste census and all parties apart from the BJP have come together to push for caste-based enumeration in the state where OBCs are a decisive vote bank.
BJP allies such as the JD-U, Apna Dal and Republican Party of India - Athawale have joined the Opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party in demanding a caste census.
Other parties such as the Biju Janata Dal have asked for a caste census, as have some BJP leaders, including Badaun MP Sanghamitra Maurya and national secretary Pankaja Munde.
OBCs form an influential voting bloc in several states and were instrumental to the rise of the BJP in recent years. They are electorally important in the heartland states, especially in Uttar Pradesh where the party was able to stitch together a rainbow Hindu coalition with OBC groups at its core when it grabbed power with an unprecedented majority in 2017.
Hence, to pre-empt any adverse impact of the caste census demand, the party has begun outreach to elucidate how its central schemes and interventions at the state level helped marginalised sections, said people aware of developments. Party cadre have been instructed to list the benefits that socially and educationally marginalised sections have accrued over the past seven years, the people quoted above added.
In recent months, the BJP has sought to publicise its decisions to extend more representation to OBCs in the Union cabinet, grant OBC reservation in medical and dental education and restore the right of states to enumerate OBCs as helping the backward classes.
BJP spokesperson and former MP, Bizay Sonkar Shastri, downplayed the caste census demand as “a political ploy” by the Opposition. He said the BJP did not believe in “caste-based politics”.
A second BJP leader declined to comment on the demand from the allies, but said, “For decades, regional parties that promised social justice and ensuring equity and equality failed to do so. They spoke of social inclusion but ended up promoting just one or two castes.”
He said schemes such as the Ujjwala Yojana, Har Ghar Jal, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana benefited people across castes.
“These schemes have benefited people on the margins whether they come from scheduled caste, scheduled tribe or OBC categories. These schemes are an indicator of how the Modi government has walked the talk on social inclusion and parity for all even in the absence of caste-based census,” said the leader quoted above.
The demand for a caste census is an old and sensitive one. Castes begun to be officially enumerated in the British era and the last caste census was conducted in 1931. Independent India limited the practice to only counting scheduled castes and tribes -- for extending reservation.
Though the Mandal commission report in 1990 extended quotas in government jobs and education to OBCs, the Centre didn’t conduct a census, instead relying on extrapolations and smaller surveys to estimate OBC numbers. Based on various sources, the Mandal commission estimated OBCs constituted about 52% of the population.
The demand for a caste census was first raised by activist groups who pointed to the importance of accurate data to extend quotas. It was quickly taken up by political parties such as the RJD and SP that count large OBC groups as key support bases. The Centre conducted a separate Socio-Economic Caste Census in 2011 but its caste data was never made public. Experts say caste enumeration can also fuel growing quota demands from dominant groups -- Jats, Patels, Gujjars, Marathas, among others.
Opposition parties say the BJP does not want clarity about caste numbers as it could hamper its social engineering.
Javed Ali Khan former MP of the Samajwadi Party said, “Our party has been asking for caste-based census so that we know the exact percentage of OBCs and SCs and the reservation policy can become more transparent. Right now, there is a lot of uncertainty and people often make claims that a handful of castes have cornered the benefits of reservations.”
He said the BJP did not want to disrupt the existing quota formula or upset the upper castes.
Given the sensitivity of the issue, the BJP has chosen not to explicitly state its stance.
“The state governments of Maharashtra and Odisha have requested to collect caste details in the forthcoming census. The government of India has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste wise populations other than SC and ST in the census,” minister of state for home Nityanand Rai told Lok Sabha in July.
However, in an interview this week to HT, Union labour minister Bhupender Yadav, who is also an OBC leader, said the matter was still under consideration and the ministry incharge of carrying out the census exercise will take a call based on feedback from experts.
Party leaders at the Centre also indicated that states were free to carry out census on the basis of caste. “States have the provisions to do so, the Centre has not stopped them. They will have to. however, take a view on how the demand for revisit the existing quotas will have to be dealt with in view of the Supreme Court’s 50% cap on reservation,” said Shastri.
The party is also worried about its partnership with the JD-U, which also broke ranks in the National Democratic Alliance when Kumar called for a probe into the Pegasus snooping controversy last month.
“There is a lot of internal pressure. Since the BJP was part of resolutions passed in the assembly in 2019 and 2020 seeking caste-based enumeration, it is now being pushed to take a stand with the other parties,” said a BJP leader from Bihar on condition of anonymity.
Kumar has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a meeting with all parties from Bihar to discuss the issue. “The BJP will have to clarify its stand. We still haven’t heard from the PMO on the meeting, but our party will continue with the demand,” said a JD-U leader, requesting to not be named.
BJP lawmaker Sanjay Paswan said his party opposed caste-based census for ideological reasons. “There is no doubt it is an electoral issue, but it does not fit in with the ideology of the BJP which believes in Sabka Saath Sab Ka Vikas (development for all)…” he said.
Political commentator AK Jha said the Opposition is unlikely to pin the BJP down on caste-based enumeration. “For the BJP, it is a win-win situation; not only has it taken steps such as giving greater representation to OBCs in the Union Cabinet, reserving 27% seats for OBC children in schools and providing quota for them in NEET exams, it is a party whose leadership is from the OBC communities so they can claim to have already worked for the benefit of these communities,” he said.
